The Worst Punishment
by Spidey meets Wizard-Theif
Summary: As if quitting that awful play wasn't enough, now she has to worry about this. "I bet that when you return from the trip you'll be rooming at our house because of a fight, and within a week you and Bakura will be in the same bed." She never thought it was possible, but she was rooming at the house. How long before the second part happened? BakuraXOc, KaibaXOC, MalikXOc, OcXOc
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: No, this does not mean this account is being used again. I just wanted to get this story off my hard-drive and make it easier to find (AKA away from my now current account.) Anyways, please enjoy the insanity and keep in mind the following:**

**\- This was written pre-2008 so the writing style matches that.  
****\- It was betaed at that time by an awesome lady but changes were made afterwards so any mistakes found are mine.  
\- Nothing has been changed from when it was first posted including the outdated author notes.  
\- The story will be updated weekly opposed to the original format where it was posted all at once.**

**Thanks for understanding. - WT**

**Now without further ado:**

**The Worst Punishment**

**A/N: Happy birthday Spidey! Thanks L.A! Also Spidey, Mossnose, you guys can stop making those faces. This isn't all that surprising.**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: Since it would take up too much space to say all the stuff I don't own, I _DO_ own Wizard-Theif, Agape, the annoying co-worker, Agape's school (though there probably is one called that), Bakari, the teacher, random student and I might or might not own the newspaper. Not sure._

* * *

There is no way that this is happening! I am not enjoying this! Not in the least! How did I get myself into this?! / Well… This is weird… but in a good way… but this is bad… How can something so wrong seem so right?

* * *

Chapter 1

What's the worst that can happen?

The week had started out as it usually did. Wizard-Theif was refusing to get out of bed to go to work while Mossnose and Agape had to practically drag her out of bed. The rest of the Monday was the usual for Wizard-Theif; she swore more than once at a fellow worker who was constantly picking on her appearance and reputation as The London Journal's top reporter. She came home, ate, annoyed Mossnose, listened to Agape and Mossnose discuss boys, and then went to bed.

Tuesday was similar except she ended up sending the co-worker to the Shadow Realm. Usually Wizard-Theif was quite cool-headed except for when it came to people thinking/implying that she had a romantic relationship with a person named Bakura. Some way or another, her annoying co-worker had managed to find that out and made the mistake of mentioning it to Wizard-Theif. That alone wasn't enough to make Wizard-Theif explode, so the co-worker went one step farther and implied that she was sleeping with him. That sent Wizard-Theif over the edge thus causing her co-worker to take an unplanned trip to the Shadow Realm to meet the lovely Man-Eater Bug. Luckily Wizard-Theif came to her senses and undid the damage in less than ten seconds. After quickly scanning the area for witnesses, Wizard-Theif was certain that no one would ever know. She went home and suffered through Agape's and Mossnose's discussion again before going to bed.

Wednesday came and went and there still was no knowledge of the little incident with shadow magic. The co-worker didn't remember a thing and, even better, had finally stopped annoying Wizard-Theif. Mossnose and Agape had also stopped talking about guys and started discussing less annoying things like video games. All in all, the week was going just fine.

Then Thursday morning happened. At first all seemed normal. Wizard-Theif awoke with her black hair and white bangs in her face covering her black with a red tint eyes. She also noticed that she was sitting on the floor with two girls towering over her. One appeared about twenty-six or twenty-seven with elfin ears, long dark brown hair, and catlike green eyes. Her name was Mossnose. The other appeared about twenty or twenty-one with short brown hair and brown eyes. She was called Agape. It was then that Wizard-Theif was informed of the other girls' plans.

Agape had the day off from classes at Queen Elizabeth II High School due to the boiler exploding, and Mossnose had taken the day off from the animal clinic because her fellow veterinarian called in sick. Usually Wizard-Theif would have had to go to work but after some 'bargaining' she managed to get the day off. Agape and Mossnose had decided to invite Spidey and her kids over because they hadn't seen each other since Kaiba's surprise birthday party way back in October. (It was now the beginning of December.) So, Spidey came over with her twin son and daughter.

Spidey still looked pretty much the same as when Mossnose and Wizard-Theif had first met her. When her Spiderman mask wasn't on, they could see that her eyes were brown and her hair was brown with long red bangs. Her son's name was Sepiroth AKA Giglimesh. Everyone called him by his middle name for some reason. He was an exact copy of his father, Malik Ishtar, right now to his tanned skin, lavender eyes, and blonde hair, except he was smaller and cuter. The little girl's name was Natsuko, and she was an exact copy of her mother when the lady wasn't wearing her Spiderman mask. Both Natsuko and Giglimesh were five. Ever since they turned five, Wizard-Theif started calling them 'the Chibis' instead of 'the twins' because she claimed that Natsuko was an evil copy of her mother though she had no proof.

From the moment Spidey and her children walked in the door, the day started to go downhill. The two children played with their Auntie Agape while the adults made light conversation.

"So Kaiba finally proposed?" Spidey asked.

Mossnose showed off her diamond ring in reply while Wizard-Theif just rolled her eyes.

"So you told him about being a cat demon and he didn't explode?" Wizard-Theif asked just for the sake of conversation.

Mossnose grinned proudly. "Yup."

Spidey looked at her friend in confusion. "And he believed you?"

"Yup."

"Did Kaiba get any sort of head injury within the past week?"

"Wizard-Theif!" Spidey whacked her friend. "Behave."

Giglimesh looked over. "I thought Mom only did that to Daddy."

"What can I say, I'm special." Wizard-Theif waited for the boy to become engrossed with playing again before she asked, "Were you and Malik drunk when you named him Giglimesh?"

"I was not drunk." Spidey yelled at her. "And his name is Sepiroth Giglimesh Ishtar."

Wizard-Theif nodded. "Sure I believe you… So Malik was drunk then?"

Spidey gave Wizard-Theif the evil eye and the other girls sensed trouble. Unfortunately Wizard-Theif wasn't as observant.

"So Wizzie, played with any shadow magic lately?" Spidey asked.

Wizard-Theif made no move to suggest guilt as she answered, "That's Bakura's and Atemu's line of work."

"Wizzie-"

"My name is Wizard-Theif."

"I thought it was Masika Kepi Kanika," Agape said as she looked over innocently.

"You might want to keep out of this Agape. Things are going to get messy," Mossnose advised her.

I know for a fact that you sent one of your co-workers to the Shadow Realm," Spidey continued.

"She deserved it, and it was only for a second," Wizard-Theif justified before realizing the idiotic of the move. "Damn it," she muttered as she put her face in her palm.

"You what?"

Wizard-Theif looked up from her palm to her now startled and confused friends. "What are you so surprised about?!" Wizard-Theif demanded. "You already knew remember? Quote, 'I know for a fact that you sent one of your co-workers to the Shadow Realm,' unquote. "

Spidey looked a bit sheepish as she replied, "Actually I was just kidding around." Her sheepish look disappeared and was replaced with an evil grin. "But **now** that I know for a fact that you yami no gamed your co-worker you have to do a horrible task for punishment."

Wizard-Theif stared at her in horror. "WHAT? When did we make that one of the house rules?"

"At the same time that we decided that you, Atemu, Kaiba, and Bakura were to never be allowed to be alone in a room together."

Wizard-Theif frowned as she said, "But those rules were only in effect while you were living with Mossnose and me. And you are now living with Malik so those rules are done, finished, through, invalid!"

Spidey's grin widened. "And that is why Mossnose came up with some new ones."

"What?!" Wizard-Theif turned to her cat-demon friend to see the woman nodding with an evil kitty grin on her face.

"Ryou, Yugi, and Bakari helped. It's called rule number sixty five and six quarters. 'Should anyone send someone to the Shadow Realm ever again; said person will have to do a horrible, yet not immoral, task for punishment,'" the cat demon explained.

Wizard-Theif scowled. "Mossnose, you are one dog-nosed traitor." As an added note she muttered. "And to think that my own brother is partly the reason for my demise." She made a fist. "Bakari, you… will… pay. Painfully… and slowly."

"I'm going to ignore that," Mossnose said as she had only heard the first part.

"Fine." Wizard-Theif turned her attention to Spidey. "So what is my punishment?"

With an evil grin Spidey leaned over and whispered into her ear. At once Wizard-Theif's eyes widened and she started yelling. "No! The answer is no! I refuse! Read my lips, I completely, totally, absolutely refuse! There is no way in Hell you are making me go along with this!"

"You're joining the club whether you like it or not."

"Over my dead, unmoving body." Wizard-Theif didn't even see the sutras coming until it was too late.

* * *

"Come on Bakura."

The man in question looked up into the face of a younger, paler, and brown-eyed replica of himself. With a shake of his white haired head the man called Bakura, ducked back down into his book. There was no way his pretend brother was making him go along with this.

"Let me try Ryou. Bakura, you know that chicks love men who show their artistic side."

This time Bakura looked up into the face of an older, white hair in a ponytail, black with a red tint eyed replica of himself. This time Bakura's lavender eyes glared at this man before he returned to his book. He then heard the man laugh and it annoyed him.

"Come on Bakura," the man continued, "you know you wanna."

"Ryou is a big boy. He can go on his own," Bakura replied. "Or you can go, Bakari. At 5000 plus you **need** a girlfriend far more than I do."

"You're 5000 plus too."

"Yeah but you are twelve years older than me so you need a girl more and for me girls equal cooties."

"What about Masika?"

Bakura looked up from his book and gave Bakari a weird look. "She's your sister. Why would I, a reincarnation of someone close to her family, be interested in dating her?"

Bakari gave him a sly look. "Why wouldn't you be?"

With a frown and a roll of the eyes, Bakura ducked back into his book.

"Onii-chan," Ryou whined, "I want you to come with me. Bakari would only flirt with the girls there. If you come I know that at least I'll have one friend there."

Bakura instantly stiffened. Ryou had just played the older brother card. "I'm not your older brother Ryou. Regardless of what the law thinks, I'm the original you."

"But onii-chan…"

"_Come on Bakura, you can resist it. Just don't look up. Just don't look up_," Bakura thought. Suddenly, the book was ripped from his hands, and he was looking right at Ryou. He was giving Bakura the puppy dog pout. Since Bakura was never very good at the older brother thing other than being over-protective, he crumbled.

"Okay, Okay, I'll go..." He muttered as an afterthought, "Stupid puppy dog pout." Luckily Bakari and Ryou couldn't hear him over their cheering and laughing. The next thing Bakura knew, he was wearing his winter coat, and Ryou was dragging him to the car while Bakari was waving good bye with a phone in his hand. "_I wonder if he's going to throw a party while we're gone... I hope not because I forgot to lock my room_." With that happy thought, Bakura headed off to his doom.

* * *

"I can't believe I went along with this," Wizard-Theif muttered darkly as she laid her head on her desk in the far back corner of the classroom.

"Come on Wizard-Theif. Look on the bright side."

Wizard-Theif moved her head upwards to look at Mossnose who was sitting in front of her.

"Mossnose I know you are engaged to a genius but what is this 'bright side' you speak of? You, Agape, and Spidey ambushed me, paralyzed me with a sutra, and then dragged me into this Hellhole. You may see the 'bright side', but all I see are the flames of Hell and the darkness of evil."

"One, you aren't the only one who was forced to come here. Mokuba and I forced Seto."

"And two, we didn't drag you to a dance," Spidey cut in.

Wizard-Theif turned to Spidey who was sitting on her left side. Ren and Giglimesh were sitting beside their mother. She also noticed Malik on the other side of the chibis.

"Can I help it if I'm anti-social and a tom-boy?! And this is worse than a dance because at a dance I can annoy people."

"We could have forced you to do something worse for your punishment," Agape added.

Wizard-Theif looked to see that the girl was sitting diagonally from her. She made a noise that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a choking sound. "Worse? What could possibly be worse than this? I bet even fighting the gods unarmed would be more enjoyable than this!"

Mossnose shook her head. "It's your own fault, you know. You shouldn't have broken the house rules."

Wizard-Theif glared at her. "It was only for a second, and no one saw me!"

"Still you have to accept responsibility for your actions," Agape said.

Spidey gave Mossnose and Agape an amused look. "What responsibility?"

They laughed and Wizard-Theif put her head on her desk. For a moment she watched as her bangs fell into her face. "_I wish I could yami no game myself_," she thought as she waited for the club to start.

For yami no gaming her co-worker, Spidey, Mossnose and Agape had forced her to join a club with them. All the younger girls had chosen the drama club, and Wizard-Theif had no choice but to go along. Slowly her eyes started to close. She had gotten very little sleep the night before, due to the fact that she had been up writing a piece for her job. In a moment, she was asleep and gently snoring. After another moment, she was awakened by someone poking her.

Annoyed, she raised her head to see Spidey poking her. Again, she glared at the girl who did nothing but point towards the front of the classroom. Wizard-Theif was surprised to see that some of the seats had been filled while she was asleep. Kaiba was now sitting in front of Mossnose, and they were talking. Before she figured out who was all there she realized that the teacher had entered the room. This teacher was the stereotypical drama teacher. Blonde hair, blue eyes, loud and easily excited. She wore round glasses, a sweater tied around her neck, a tan skirt and a blouse. It took Wizard-Theif another moment to realize that this teacher was talking.

"I can tell we are going to be great friends!" the teacher gushed.

Wizard-Theif fought the urge to gag and tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. She was planning to complain about it later.

"Now to choose who is playing what role, we are going to draw from hats," the teacher said as she moved to her desk and picked up three hats filled with fortune cookies. One hat was for boys, one for girls and one for children.

"Uh… Ma'am wouldn't it make more sense for us to audition for the parts?" one male member, who Wizard-Theif didn't know, asked.

"Oh tish tosh, this works far better for fate and destiny will choose the role that matches the inner you." With that she started walking around the room.

"I think I know how Kaiba felt when Atemu was going on about the heart of the cards," Wizard-Theif muttered to no one.

"I hope that I'm partnered with Malik," Spidey whispered. "I don't think I would like having to kiss some other guy."

"How do you know that you have to kiss anyone?" Mossnose whispered.

Wizard-Theif, on the other hand, had started making gagging sounds but stopped as soon as the teacher was within hearing distance. By the time it got to the girls in the corner there were only a few cookies left. Taking a deep breath all of them reached in at the same time and pulled out a cookie. With an equally deep breath, all the girls broke open their cookies. Wizard-Theif waited a moment before reading her fortune. She looked over at Spidey to see that the girl's reaction was better than it could have been. Spidey's face was completely blank. Wizard-Theif looked down at the girl's fortune. For some reason, it was just as blank as Spidey's face if not more so. Agape also had a blank. Wizard-Theif glanced at Mossnose. Her fortune read Bridget. Now Wizard-Theif felt a bit better since she couldn't possibly get anything worse than Mossnose. It was virtually impossible to get the female lead because that role had probably already been drawn. Feeling somewhat better Wizard-Theif looked down at her own fortune and felt all the color drain out of her face.

Spidey seemed to notice Wizard-Theif's reaction and looked over. She whispered the word on the paper and then tried to withhold her laughter.

"Odette? You... got... Odette?"

"Shut up," Wizard-Theif hissed as if she was a cobra.

"Who got Odette?" Mossnose and Agape whispered.

Before Spidey or Wizard-Theif could reply the teacher started talking again.

"Now as you can all guess, the play we are performing is The Swan Princess. Now everyone must come up and write your name beside whatever was on your paper. All blank ones over on that side board." She pointed and almost three quarters of the club walked over to the board to write their name down. The rest went up to the front board and wrote their names beside their roles. Some of the members were full of energy while others were acting like it was the end of the world. As soon as everyone was seated again the teacher read the list aloud.

"When I call out your name please stand up so that the rest of the members know who you are. Now let's see… the narrator will be Tristan Taylor."

A man with pointed brown hair and brown eyes stood up and then sat back down.

"Odette as a child will be played by Natsuko Ishtar." With some encouragement from her parents little Natsuko stood up. Many of the girls in the audience cooed at the sight of her.

"Derek as a child will be played by Sepiroth Ishtar… Are you and Natsuko Ishtar siblings?" the teacher asked Giglimesh as he stood up. He nodded and then quickly hid behind his father. Again girls cooed at the sight of the little boy.

"Ok, King William will be played by Atemu Motou." A man with tri-coloured hair stood up and then sat back down as if he was a king. Whispering filled the classroom as he did this. Atemu brushed this off as he was used to it, being the King of Games and all, not that the teacher knew it.

"Imagine that, Odette is older than her father," Spidey muttered.

"Don't make me swear in front of your children," Wizard-Theif threatened.

"Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, will be played by Yugi Motou." A shorter version of Atemu stood up and Agape muttered:

"Is it even possible for Yugi to act evil?"

"Jean-Bob will be played by Duke Devlin."

"Oh great, dice boy," Wizard-Theif muttered as the Kouga from Inuyasha look-alike stood up. She gagged as some other girls swooned.

"Calm down, calm down, now let's see… Puffin will be played by Joey Wheeler." A tall blonde with brown eyes stood up and sat back down.

"Chamberlain will be played by Leon von Schroeder." A boy with maroon coloured hair in a pony tail with golden brown eyes stood up and then sat down.

"Lord Roger will be played by Seto Kaiba." The teacher gave a start at the name as if she only just then realized that the CEO was in the room. The tall brown haired, blue eyed man stood up and then sat down. Noise once again filled the room.

"Quiet down, quiet down… now… Solomon Mutou will be playing the part of Speed." An old man with gray similar to the style of Yugi's and Atemu's, stood up and then sat down.

"Bromley will be played by Malik Ishtar." The tanned man with blond hair stood up, and Giglimesh retreated back to his own seat.

"Sentai Yamaneko will be playing the part of Bridget, the old creepy hag."

Mossnose stood up and then sat down. Once she had, Wizard-Theif muttered, "That role matches you perfectly."

"Your's matches you better," Mossnose replied thus silencing Wizard-Theif for the moment.

"Ryou Bakura will be playing the part of Queen Uberta… Oh dear… it seems that the roles got mixed up. Sorry Mr. Bakura but you'll have to be a girl in the play."

Ryou smiled politely as he stood up while Wizard-Theif's mind went into worry mode. Because Ryou was in the play his brother and Bakari would come to see it thus seeing her as Odette. Then she remembered that Atemu and Kaiba were also in the play meaning they now have blackmail on her. Atemu, Kaiba and Wizard-Theif had a history of trying to annoy the hell out of each other, boys vs. girl. What was worse was that she wouldn't be able to return the favour because their roles actually matched them… somewhat. "_Damn it_," she thought as the white haired man sat back down.

The teacher continued again, "The rest of you, minus two, will be playing the other roles like the villagers, and will also be stage hands. Now the moment you have all been waiting for. Our female lead will be Masika Kanika playing the part of the older Odette." As if she had just heard her death sentence, Wizard-Theif stood up. She could hear snickering from farther up front but ignored it. As she sat back down she said to Mossnose and Spidey, "Don't even say it."

The teacher waited for the snickering to stop before talking again. "And our male lead will be Mr. Bakura... uh... Bakura who is playing the role of older Derek." Another man with white hair stood up and quiet laughter was heard coming from up front. It was obvious from the man's posture that he was barely stopping himself from killing the people laughing and was less than impressed about his role.

As he sat back down Spidey leaned towards Wizard-Theif. She was mildly amused to see that the lady was banging her head on the innocent desk. "It could always be worse," she offered.

"How?" Wizard-Theif whispered with a tone that was a mix of desperation and anger. "I have to kiss Bakura! The guy is like my brother who I never see or get along with!"

"I thought the two of you were on better terms now," Agape said.

Wizard-Theif glared at her. "Better doesn't mean I want to kiss him! He's like my older brother. I've known him since I was six and he was seven! And now because of you people I have to kiss him!"

"Maybe not," Mossnose said hoping to stop Wizard-Theif from exploding.

"It's The Swan Princess!" Wizard-Theif hissed angrily.

Mossnose sighed. "Okay. Don't panic."

"It could always be worse. You could have had to kiss Atemu or Kaiba or Yami Bakura," Spidey quickly said.

Wizard-Theif was silent as she lay her head down on her desk. "_There is no way I'm going to live this down. As if being in a dress and wearing make-up wasn't bad enough. Now Atemu and Kaiba will start saying that I'm in love with Bakura. Ick! AH! Stupid fate, I should have known that this was going to happen. Stupid yami no game rule that I can't yami no game myself. Stupid karma for coming back to bite me. Stupid, stupid-_!"

"Miss Kanika?" Wizard-Theif looked up to see all the members of the club were looking at her. She looked at the teacher.

"I prefer to be called Wizard-Theif, but yes?" she replied.

"Are you alright?"

"_Let's see, I have to kiss Bakura, wear a Seth-damned dress, and wear the devil's evil spawn known as make-up. Oh! And to top it off, I was dragged into this Hell against my will. Oh yes; I'm just peachy._" "Mostly."

The teacher nodded and then went back to making a schedule for rehearsals while Wizard-Theif retreated to her dream world. She was back in Ancient Egypt running from the guards of the pharaoh.

"Odette? Odette?"

"Wizard-Theif! She's talking to you!" Spidey hissed as she poked her daydreaming friend.

"Huh? Wha? What?" Wizard-Theif asked as she quickly looked around. Some of the group snickered at this display.

"I was asking for your opinion on whether we should have the meeting twice a week or once."

Trying to buy some time Wizard-Theif asked, "When are we presenting it?"

"Oh! I never thought about showing the city our play. Great idea Odette!" the teacher gushed.

"Wha…?" Wizard-Theif said quietly.

"Real smooth," Kaiba commented over his shoulder.

"Stuff it Baka-boy," Wizard-Theif said to him.

Meanwhile the teacher was ranting. "I'll have to book the theatre and then advertise this. Oh and costumes, lots of costumes. Club members let's thank Odette for coming up with this brilliant idea."

"My name is Wizard-Theif," she muttered as she leaned over her desk and covered her head with her arms.

Surprisingly almost everyone supported the idea and they were by no means mad at Wizard-Theif. Most clapped whole heartily while others shouted their thanks. Once everything was quiet again the teacher said, "So it is settled we will meet here every Monday night and every Saturday morning. I'll have the script for you all at the next meeting. I want you all here at 9:30am sharp. See you all on Saturday." With that she disappeared out the door leaving the members of the club to slowly follow.

Wizard-Theif, Agape, Mossnose, and Spidey and her family were one of the last members to leave as Wizard-Theif was having a panic attack.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Wizard-Theif was muttering as she banged her head on her desk.

"Wizard-Theif?" Mossnose asked but she received no answer.

"Masika?" Agape said.

"Wizzie?" Spidey tried but no reaction, not even a yell.

"So** Odette**, what do you think of the fact that you have to kiss **Derek**?" Kaiba asked as he turned around.

Wizard-Theif paused her head banging to glare at the CEO. "When I snap you are going to be the second to go," she told him.

Kaiba appeared shocked for a moment. "Second?"

"Yes because you aren't important enough to be first," Wizard-Theif said with a grin.

"It could always be worse," Ryou said as he sat down with the group.

Wizard-Theif's grin disappeared as she turned to face him. "Do enlighten me," she said dryly.

"You could have to kiss me or Zorc."

"Who is Zorc?" Agape and Spidey asked in the background.

"Zorc is Yami Bakura," Yugi explained as he and Atemu joined the group.

Meanwhile Wizard-Theif had replied to Ryou's explanation. "Point granted."

"Wizard-Theif!" Spidey yelled as she whacked the other girl. "Be nice!"

"What? I'm just agreeing with him. I'm thousands of years older than Ryou and probably thousands of years younger than Zorc."

"So what you're saying is that you'd rather kiss someone closer to your age?" Malik asked.

Wizard-Theif shook her head. "If I had any chose I wouldn't be kissing anyone."

Malik frowned. "That didn't answer my question."

Wizard-Theif appeared confused. "What question?"

"Whether you'd rather kiss someone close to your age or not."

She shrugged. "I'd rather not kiss anyone."

"You're not going to get an answer," Atemu said wisely.

Bakura came over to the group and was careful not to make eye contact with anyone but Ryou. "Come on, we have to go make sure that Bakari didn't destroy the house."

Ryou stood up and said goodbye to everyone before following his brother out of classroom. After that everyone said goodbye and went their separate ways. On the way home some very amusing conversations happened.

* * *

"So? How was it?" Bakari asked as Ryou and Bakura got into his car.

Bakura merely grunted and looked out the window at the new snow on the ground. Ryou shook his head and then told Bakari what he thought of the club. "We are meeting every Monday night and Saturday morning. Atemu, Yugi, Yugi's grandpa, Kaiba, Joey, Mossnose, Agape, Spidey, Malik and their family were there."

Bakari nodded as he drove away from the curve. "Really? That's a small group then."

"There were more but we didn't know everyone."

"Ah, anyways, so Spidey said that she was going to trick Masika into going. Did it work?"

"Unfortunately," Bakura muttered.

Bakari gave Ryou a confused look in the mirror so Ryou explained. "We picked roles today and-"

"Oh! I got ya. Bakura got a role he didn't really like and you got something that had to do with… wait, hang on… yelling at people."

"We are doing The Swan Princess. I'm the queen-"

"It's a shame that Bakura didn't get that role. I think he might have enjoyed it."

Bakura glared at Bakari from his place behind the driver before looking back to the window. "You mean **you** would enjoy it."

Bakari thoughtfully nodded. "I suppose that it's for the better that you aren't the queen, Bakura. You would need a hell of a lot of make-up to pass as a girl. It would be even worse if you still had that scar. Guess it was a good thing that when you were restored to life your body didn't look the exact same as it did 5000 years ago. So as you were saying Ryou?"

"And Bakura is-"

"Wait let me guess, Bakura got… Prince what's-his-face."

"Derek."

"That's not so bad. So he has to kiss some girl. It's not the end of the world."

Bakura looked away from the window and glared at the oldest in the car again. "You're not the one who has to kiss your sister."

Bakari gave Bakura a weird look in the mirror. "You have a sister?"

Bakura groaned. "Masika, you moron. I have to kiss Masika, your sister."

"What?" Bakari asked as he accidentally hit the brakes. Once he got the car under control again Bakari turned to Bakura. "Okay let me get this straight you have to kiss Masika?"

"For the last Ra-damned time, yes!"

Bakari grinned. "I'm glad that you seem so happy about it, but isn't that a bit soon?"

Ryou gave Bakari a weird look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, couples never kiss on their first dates, right?"

Bakura glared daggers at Bakari. "What… was… that?"

"Calm down, calm down. I was just kidding; but if you think about it Bakura, this might be a blessing in disguise."

"Maybe on your planet," Bakura muttered as he looked out the window again. Ryou fell asleep soon after that and since Bakura wasn't in a talking mood, the rest of the ride was quiet.

* * *

Spidey had gone home with Malik and their kids so Mossnose and Agape had to deal with the after effects of the club alone. Mossnose sighed. She was driving but every so often she would take her eyes from the road and look into the backseat at Wizard-Theif. The girl was silent and glaring out the window at the poor innocent snow. She obviously blamed Mossnose, Agape and Spidey for her doomed fate. Mossnose sighed again. "Wizard-Theif we know you are upset but just think of this as..."

"As an adventure," Agape said from shotgun in an attempt to help Mossnose out.

Wizard-Theif scoffed and said, "Easy for you to say. You don't have to kiss Bakura."

"Oh! I do believe that Wizard-Theif has a crush," Mossnose said excitedly.

"What… the… hell are you on?"

"Filling in for Spidey."

"Oh Ra no!" Wizard-Theif's face was that of pure terror.

"You don't want to kiss Bakura because you like someone else," Mossnose explained.

Wizard-Theif frowned. "You suck at pretending to be Spidey."

"I was being me there."

Wizard-Theif's face changed to one of surprise and confusion. "Oh… Who are you and what have you done with Mossnose?"

"I was kidding," Mossnose said with a shake of her head. "Sheesh."

"Was that Spidey or Mossnose talking there?"

"A bit of both."

"Oh…"

"Another reason why you don't want to kiss Bakura is because you secretly like him and are worried that after the play he'll reject you if you tell him."

"That's the Spidey/Mossnose I want to kill," Wizard-Theif said. "And just for the record, I like Bakura as a brother not as a lover."

Agape got a confused look on her face. "What about the drea-"

"You bring that up and you die," Wizard-Theif said as she leaned against the window.

"Well… at least Bakura is sort of hot right?" Agape said in an attempt to cheer Wizard-Theif up. Let's just say it failed… horribly… pathetically.

"Agape, Bakura is not hot. He isn't even remotely handsome."

"Fan girls seem to think so," Mossnose pointed out.

"Yeah but they're fan girls. What do they know?"

"So you find him cute then."

"Not even. Now, please stop filling in for Spidey and just let me sleep." Surprisingly both girls complied, allowing Wizard-Theif stare out the window. She noticed that it had started to snow again. "_I don't care. Punishment or not, nothing can be worse than this. Next meeting I'm quitting._" Within seconds she was asleep again.

* * *

**A/N: That was the first chapter. So what do you think so far? Please review before moving on to the next chapter.**

**-Wt**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Just to let you know, Spidey, I first started planning this way back at the beginning of May 2008, May 4, 5, 6, or 7… Maybe it was the 8****th****. Anyways, remember when I innocently asked you about which of our shippings you found most amusing? That was the start of my plan. Happy Birthday, Spidey. Mossnose you can stop with the face any time now. I mean it.**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka and Wizard-Theif._

* * *

There is no way that this is happening! I am not enjoying this! Not in the least! How did I get myself into this?! / Well… This is weird… but in a good way… but this is bad… How can something so wrong seem so right?

* * *

Chapter 2

You asked and now you have an answer.

Saturday: the day loved by many in the world. The day to sleep in and recoup from a huge party on Friday night, to put off doing your homework or thank whatever you worship that your kids are watching Saturday morning cartoons and being quiet. At least, that's what you are supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, Mossnose and Agape didn't get the memo. They came into Wizard-Theif's room at the unforgivable hour of 7:00am to wake up the poor sap. This in turn led to one broken sleep pattern and a fight. By the time Wizard-Theif was out of her bed and at the breakfast table, they would have been running late if they didn't wake her up so early.

"Haven't you people ever heard of 'Saturday is the day for sleeping in'?" Wizard-Theif asked as she attempted to eat toast. Her stomach was flip-flopping, and she felt queasy. Today was the day that she quit the play. She would have been feeling happy if not for the fact that she was worried about what Spidey's reaction would be. Wizard-Theif wasn't afraid of the pain of the sutra's or Spidey's temper. No, what worried her was how the girls would think of her being responsible. If they didn't trust her she could say goodbye to staying out late to work on anymore articles and then her boss would have a hissy fit. Now that was something to be afraid of.

"Look, I know you didn't want to play the part of Odette or kiss Bakura, but you have to make up for your mistakes," Mossnose lectured her.

Wizard-Theif groaned. If Mossnose was going into lecture mode she wouldn't have to worry about the play anymore because she probably wouldn't have any brains cells left. The lady was infamous among their group for being the only one who would out lecture Spidey, Atemu, and Ryou combined. Luckily Agape came to the rescue by saying that they'd better hurry if they were going to meet the Ishtars. Leaving her half-eaten toast on the table, Wizard-Theif followed the other girls out the door.

When they got to the school, they all rushed into the classroom since they were running late due to traffic and the icy roads. They took their seats so fast that they weren't even able to remove their coats. Just as they as they sat down the teacher, in all her gushy glory, came in announcing that she had managed to book the huge theatre down the road for Sunday, August 31st. "So we'll have lots of time," she had said. Then she started showing off the costumes.

"_This is where I get off_," Wizard-Theif thought as she gathered her courage. "_Please help me, Bes, because I'm going to need as much luck as I can get. Please don't let me get grounded for this_." Taking a deep breath, she stood up.

"And there will be lots of people an- Odette, do you have something to say?" the teacher asked.

Wizard-Theif braced herself for the negative reaction she was about to receive and said, "Yes. I'm quitting." When Wizard-Theif saw the teacher's eyes start to tear she quickly added, "I already have plans that night and won't be able to make it, and I don't want the group to be used to rehearsing with me and then have to get used to some other actor a day or so in advance so I quit."

The teacher nodded good-naturally. "Well then it looks like we'll need a new older Odette and older Derek. You may leave now, Miss Kanika but feel free to join the club some other time. We'll be doing Beauty and the Beast next month."

Wizard-Theif smiled and walked out of the classroom. Once outside her smile disappeared and she muttered, "Not in this lifetime." Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up like they did when a powerful spell was being cast. She quickly turned around but saw nothing. After dismissing it as her mind playing tricks on her, she started walking towards the exit of the school. She had decided that a walk in the chilly air would stop the mind tricks.

It worked but her mind was stubbornly replaying the previous events. "_So Bakura quit too. Come to think of it, I didn't see him in the classroom either. Must have called and quit. Oh well, now I have three hours before the meeting is over, and then my new punishment will be assigned. What's the worst that can happen?_" Wizard-Theif thought as she wandered around the snow covered city of London, England.

At one point a fellow rookie reporter ran up to her, panting. The reporter said something about the editor wanting her to go to at least one restaurant and write a review for it. Since she had nothing better to do and didn't feel like making the rookie suffer the wrath of the boss, she agreed. Within seconds she came to such a place and decided she might as well get the job over and done with quickly even if it wasn't due until Friday. She sat down at a table by a window and pulled out her little notebook. A waitress quickly came over and Wizard-Theif ordered a small cinnamon biscuit and a hot chocolate. While she waited for her order she wrote down random things she observed.

The restaurant had a lovely view of Big Ben and there were some stores along the road selling little souvenirs. There were lots of tourists but if anything they seemed to give the restaurant a homey feeling since there were little kids running around. Her drink and biscuit came over quickly and Wizard-Theif enquired as to whether they were homemade. When she was told they were she thanked the waitress and jotted down the fact. She enjoyed her cinnamon bun and hot chocolate and was writing a note down about pricing and taste when a person sat down at the chair across from her.

"Hello," the person said to her. The voice was gentle and male but Wizard-Theif immediately sensed a harsher tone underlining the gentle tone. At once she felt like her blood had turned into ice in her veins. Carefully she looked up and came face to face with a man with long white hair and harsh brown eyes.

"Zorc," she muttered venomously.

He nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm amazed you recognized me like this. Most of your friends know me as Yami Bakura. You've grown up quite a bit since I saw you last, Masika. When was that? About 5000 years ago and you were just a child at the time running to save her friend. How is Bakura doing anyways?" Zorc asked.

Wizard-Theif was quiet as the waitress came and took his order, which was a coffee. She noted that Zorc wasn't wearing the Millennium Ring but that didn't surprise her as the items had been sealed long ago at the end of Atemu's and Yugi's duel. Once the waitress was out of earshot Wizard-Theif hissed, "You would know after all you possessed him and Ryou, and how the hell are you back? Yugi and the others took care of you years ago."

"I was doing Bakura and Ryou a favour. Living your own life is so tiresome," Zorc answered, carefully avoiding Wizard-Theif question.

"Like hell you were," Wizard-Theif said as she started packing up her notebook. It was at that moment that she wished she didn't have so many loose papers in it.

"Come, come, Masika. I would have thought you would show some gratitude to the man who saved yours and your friend's life as a child."

"You only saved us so that you could use him."

"I'm surprised at you, Masika. I would have thought that you would be more willing to help out a fellow incarnation of darkness."

Wizard-Theif tried to hide the shiver than ran down her back when Zorc said that they had something in common. Yes, she was technically from a different world, just like Zorc. Yes, she would be called a demonic incarnation of darkness by supernatural investigators, just like Zorc because of her magical signature. Beyond that they had nothing else in common. Zorc was fully grown when he came to this world, and Wizard-Theif had been only a child. When he had arrived in this world his form had been like that of a monster. Wizard-Theif appeared as a human child. He was evil, she was a trouble maker. But people still treated her like she was an evil bomb about to go off just because she was similar to the evil incarnations of darkness.

"_If only they knew that there are more incarnations of darkness that are nice then like Zorc back in my world,_" Wizard-Theif thought.

Now she tried to get papers into her officially 'Ra-damned' notebook, Zorc was watching her, amused. His drink came moments after his comment about her helping him, and he drank it slowly. Finally, Wizard-Theif gave up and just stuffed the papers in the notebook before going to pay. She could feel Zorc's eyes on her as she quickly left the restaurant. As soon as she was certain that he couldn't see her, she started running. She wasn't sure why or how Zorc had shown up, but what she did know was that she wanted as much distance between her and that thing as possible. When she felt it was safe, she slowed down and soon came to a stop. She found herself in a park and sat down on a less snow covered bench as she attempted to get her notebook back order. To her annoyance, someone sat down beside her. She refused to make eye contact until the person started playing with her hair. At that moment, she basically jumped right off the bench to give the person a piece of her mind when she noticed it was a child. Her anger instantly vanished as she looked at the little one.

The child had jet black hair. His glasses covered green eyes, and he appeared about four, the same age Masika was when her destiny became active. She quickly shook her head to clean away those thoughts. The last thing she needed was those horrors on her mind as she was talking to a child. Slowly she came to realize that the child was holding her notebook out to her. Unsure what to do she accepted it.

"Thanks... what's your name?" she asked as she sat back down on the bench.

"Harry," the boy replied. "Why's your hair two colours?"

Wizard-Theif was surprised by his question. In all her 5000 years of life no one had ever asked that question so she was stumped as to how to answer. To say she was born with it could cause problems but she didn't want to lie. "The same reason why yours is black," she decided to say.

The boy was silent as he looked at his feet. He swung them back and forth.

"How old are you?" Wizard-Theif asked quietly while in the back of her mind she was being nagged by the feeling that this was familiar.

Harry held up five fingers and smiled proudly. "How old are you?" he asked.

"Old."

"A hundred?" Harry asked, his eyes wide in wonder.

Wizard-Theif smile grew as Harry's eyes widened. "Older."

"A thousand?"

"Getting close."

"A million?"

Wizard-Theif was now grinning. "Not yet but I hope to get that old."

"You don't look like you're a thousand. You look like you're twenty," Harry said.

Wizard-Theif nodded. "Thanks, it's good to know that I act like how I look. So Harry, where are your parents?"

Harry's smile vanished. "They died. I live with auntie, and uncle, and Dudley."

Wizard-Theif instantly felt guilty, and she noticed that there were some signs of wear on his glasses, and his snowsuit was way too big for him. "Oh, I'm sorry..." She fell silent as the boy hugged her. Who in their right mind hugs a perfect stranger? For all the boy knew, she could be a pedophile. Still it was nice to see that at least someone thought she was harmless and not your 'stereotypical' incarnation of darkness.

"Harry, do you believe in magic?" she asked quietly.

The little boy looked up at her with confused eyes. "What kind of magic?"

"The kind that can appear in the darkest times and can even save your life. It's called hope." Inside Wizard-Theif was amazed that she even remembered that line that Bakari and Baraka told her before they left her alone in the world.

Before Harry could say anything, someone shouted. Within seconds a big beefy man with virtually no neck appeared in front of the bench.

"Who are you?" the man asked as he looked at Wizard-Theif. She could tell that this man thought she was a delinquent and didn't like her one bit because he didn't even wait for an answer. He grabbed Harry's arm and started dragging the boy away. "Come on boy. We're going home."

Harry looked back and waved as he was dragged away. Wizard-Theif gave a small wave in return with a slight smile.

"Well isn't that touching?" a voice said from behind Wizard-Theif. For the second time that hour she jumped off the bench. To her horror and annoyance, she turned around to see Zorc leaning against a tree.

"What the hell do you want?" Wizard-Theif demanded as she silently hoped that a huge pile of snow would fall on him.

"Language, language," Zorc nagged her. "I'm here merely to suggest a deal."

"I'll die first," Wizard-Theif said before turning on her heel and making a run for it. As she ran into an alley, her lungs felt like they were going to burst. She stopped in the middle of it to catch her breath and kept a hand on the wall for support.

"You really shouldn't try to run," Zorc said as he appeared behind her. Masika made to run again but Zorc grabbed her arm and threw her against the wall of the alley. He pinned her there between the wall and his body so that she had no hope of escape. "Listen well because I'm only going to say this once," he said as he stopped her from fighting.

Wizard-Theif was about to demand to be let go when Zorc put his hand over her mouth.

"I suggest that you don't bite me. You've seen me fight before so you know how powerful I am." He smirked when Wizard-Theif stopped trying to fight and merely glared at him. "Now, you are going to wake up tomorrow as a bat unless you help me with a little scheme I have planned." He removed his hand to hear Wizard-Theif's answer.

Her answer was to kick him on the shin and then make a run for it. She kept running until she was back at the apartment. Once there, she bolted the front door and ripped off her boots and top coat. Then she ran into her bedroom door and bolted that door. She knew it wasn't going to do anything against Zorc, but she wanted to do something at least to say that she tried. Minutes passed and Wizard-Theif sat on her bed with her legs held up against her chest. She was shivering out of fear and couldn't stop repeating the scene from the alley and the restaurant through her mind.

"_'You are going to wake up as a bat tomorrow...' What the heck did he mean by that?_" Wizard-Theif thought as she pulled a blanket around her shoulders.

* * *

As Bakura went about his work at the pet store/pound, he was thankful that Ryou and Bakari had let him off the hook for quitting the play. He vowed never to put himself in that situation ever again if he could help it. As he put some food in the bowls for the puppies at the front of the store, he was amused by how the puppies were always falling over each other. A smile crossed his face as he stood up again and looked out the window. The smile disappeared when he saw a girl that look strangely like Wizard-Theif run by. This wouldn't have worried him but normally Wizard-Theif wouldn't be down in this part of town. He also thought he had spotted someone following her, and he thought he saw a flash of white that wasn't snow. But just as quickly as the pair appeared, they disappeared thus leaving Bakura to wonder if he had been imaging this. The meowing of the kittens and the yell of his co-worker brought Bakura back to reality, and he quickly got back to work.

When it came time to close up shop, Bakura offered to take over his co-worker's chores so that she could go home early. She quickly accepted and Bakura went around making sure that all the animals were well fed and were not going to cause any trouble. Unfortunately for him, there was one little bird that wouldn't be quiet. It just kept squawking 'pieces of eight'. It was causing so much noise that some of the kittens and puppies had woken up and were whimpering. _"Today just isn't my day,"_ Bakura thought as he tried to think of some way to get the parrot to be quiet. Suddenly the whole shop went quiet and Bakura felt a sudden temperature drop. "_Damn it. Just what I need right now, a ghost that will try to possess me._"

A low moaning entered the shop and Bakura growled as his hands became fists. Suddenly the low moaning was cut short by the sound of someone getting told off. Bakura turned around and came face to face with Bakari and Ryou.

"What was that all about?" Bakura asked.

"Back when Baraka and I were alive we did an experiment about which noise affects daemons the most. I wanted to see if it would work on your world animals and by the looks of things it does," Bakari explained with a grin.

"What are daemons?" Ryou asked.

"Daemon is another name for ka," Bakura tried to explain. When Ryou still looked confused Bakura tried again. "Ok. In Ancient Egypt we believed that the soul was five different parts. The ib, heart; sheut, shadow; ren, name; ba, personality; and ka, the spirit."

"I thought that the ba was your life force," Bakari cut in.

Bakura sighed. "It is. Just let me finish. My ka is Diabound. You know what Diabound is right?"

Ryou nodded. "Isn't that the snake man thing that you can summon?"

"Yeah. The reason he is like that is because he is the reflection of the true nature of my soul. (Or so I'm told.) Anyways, the ba is what controls the ka and feeds it. If your personality is full of good karma your ka will be a spirit. If you release evil karma your ka will be a demon. Does that make any sense?"

"Sure."

Bakari frowned and crossed his arms behind his head. "I like daemons better. You get it at fourteen, it is like your guardian angel, and it is the reflection of your soul. None of this confusing five part to the soul business. You didn't even mention the ib, sheut and ren."

Bakura frowned. "Bakari, they are the same thing! Look, I didn't come up with it. I was just taught it."

Ryou had started to look confused again so Bakura quickly came up with an example. "Ryou think of it this way. Daemons and kas are the same species just a different breed. Just like how a poodle and a beagle are different breeds but the same species. Now, how was the play?" Bakura asked as he followed the two other men out of the shop and locked up.

"It was ok. Wizard-Theif quit though," Ryou replied.

"Why did she do that?" Bakari asked as he started the car.

"Said she couldn't make the date of the opening night and she didn't want to let the group down."

Bakari frowned. "Bakura, isn't that the excuse you used?"

Bakura shrugged. "Maybe... Ryou have you seen or sensed anything weird happening around town lately?"

"If you count Bakari getting a date then yes," Ryou replied with a smile.

"You make it sound like it's impossible for me to get a date," Bakari said with a pout.

Both younger men fought back laughter at the look on Bakari's face but behind Bakura's laughter there was a feeling of unease. Something weird was going on, and he didn't like the feeling it was projecting.

* * *

Wizard-Theif had almost fallen asleep on her bed when she heard knocking on the door. She looked out the window and noticed that it was dark out. She pulled the blanket tighter around her body as she heard something enter the apartment. To her relief she heard Mossnose's, Agape's and Spidey's voices and after a moment she got off the bed and went to greet them.

"Wizard-Theif? What happened to you? You look like a mess," Spidey said as she caught sight of the darkness incarnation.

"I'm fine, just had a run in with an old acquaintance. So how goes the play?" Wizard-Theif asked in an attempt to get the spotlight off of her. "_Being a mom must have made her less dense when it comes to people being upset._"

"Oh, it's ok, but you do know that by quitting you have to do some other form of punishment," Mossnose told her.

Wizard-Theif shrugged it off. "I know. Tell me in the morning what it is. I'm going to type up my article for the paper now." With that she retreated into her room. For a moment she considered writing the article but she unexpectedly felt drained. After deciding to put off the article until the next day, she grabbed her pj's and the jacket that she slept in before she made her way to the shower. None of the other girls asked any questions as they all knew that Wizard-Theif found she worked best in her pj's, and they were used to seeing her wearing a jacket. After taking a quick shower, Wizard-Theif returned to her room and fell right onto the bed. She was asleep before she even hit the covers.

When Spidey came to say goodbye about an hour later at 9:00pm all she saw was Wizard-Theif wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets. She left the room seconds afterwards and closed the door. In her quick look around the room Spidey had missed the odd black glow that was coming from Wizard-Theif. After a moment though the black light had disappeared and Wizard-Theif turned over in her sleep completely unaware of the terrors that were to meet her the next morning.

* * *

Note: Bes is the god of luck and the explanation about the ka and five parts of the soul was a mix of information from Wikipedia and Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World Manga volume # 1. Thank you Takahashi-sama!

**A/N: Bet you thought they were in Domino. See, even when writing a genre I have no experience in, I still manage to stay one step ahead! Please review before going on to the next chapter and thank you Light's Aura858 for aiding me in my quest. Any time now Mossnose. You can stop any time now… Ok pick up your jaw or I will make you!**

**-WT**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Spidey, remember back in June 2008 on the 21****st**** when I said that I'd make it up to you by the end of next summer? Does this make up for all my mistakes? (Yeah, this is really late.) And I'm shipping people who I never ship so this is probably the only time you'll see this.**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is the plot, Agape, Agape's school, Bakari, Grandma Akane, anything that has to do with the Prodigiums and Wizard-Theif. _

* * *

There is no way that this is happening! I am not enjoying this! Not in the least! How did I get myself into this?! / Well… This is weird… but in a good way… but this is bad… How can something so wrong seem so right?

* * *

Chapter 3

Things just seem to get better and better, don't they?

"Wizard-Theif, it's time to get up."

The darkness incarnation peeked over her covers. Her alarm clock had long since gone off, but she had turned it off because it was making her headache worse. She had thought that some more sleep would help lessen the headache, but if anything, sleep had made it worse.

"Wizard-Theif! This is your last warning! Get up!"

"Go away Mossnose," Wizard-Theif yelled causing her head ache get even worse.

"If you think pretending to be sick is going to get you out of going to work, you're wrong. I want to see you out here in one minute."

"I'm not pretending," Wizard-Theif muttered as she tried to turn over, but even the smallest movement set her head spinning. Her stomach was also threatening to empty itself, but Wizard-Theif was able to stop herself from throwing up.

Mossnose was back a minute later and was about to break the door down when Agape suggested that the stress was getting to Wizard-Theif. Agape argued that Wizard-Theif had been under a lot of pressure at work, and them forcing her to join the play might have bought her to the breaking point. Wizard-Theif silently thanked Agape and fell asleep once more after Mossnose agreed to call The London Journal to inform the boss.

It wasn't until dusk that Wizard-Theif awoke and came out of her room. She looked like she had just been to Hell and back. Slowly she got herself some soup since she didn't trust her stomach to be able to keep down anything solid. Her roommates silently watched as she did this and didn't speak to her until she sat down at the table with her soup.

"Masika?" Agape said. "Are you ok?"

The darkness incarnation winced. "It's just a headache. I had it this morning, and it just seems to be getting worse."

"Maybe you should see a doctor," Mossnose suggested.

"It's just a headache," Wizard-Theif repeated. "I don't need to see a doctor."

Mossnose fell into defeated silence. She knew the reason Wizard-Theif refused to see any sort of doctor was because of a scary incident the lady had over 5000 years ago. From what she could understand, the incident happened after Bakura had become Zorc's pawn. The girl had been stabbed and taken to a doctor where her wings were discovered. She was hunted and managed to escape to what would later be called China. Ever since, Wizard-Theif had refused to see a doctor for fear of the incident repeating itself.

"But what if-"

Wizard-Theif cut Agape off with a glare. "It's just a headache. It will be gone in a day."

Mossnose gulped. "Speaking of days… in three days' time you will be doing your punishment."

When Wizard-Theif said nothing Mossnose continued. "You'll be going to France where you'll be staying in a five star hotel."

Wizard-Theif was silent but it was clear that she was wondering how that could be punishment. "Where in France?"

"Paris."

"Who is paying?"

"Seto."

Mossnose could almost see the thoughts of the war museums and wasting lots of money going around Wizard-Theif's mind. She could also see Wizard-Theif's thoughts come to a stop and become suspicious. It sounded nothing like punishment, something was up.

"And you're not allowed to go to any war museums, and you have to go to every spa in the city," Mossnose finished.

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Figures. Alright, three days time? That should give me enough time to convince my boss to let me go."

"Mossnose did that this morning," Agape quickly said. "You're not to show up in the office until you're back from the trip."

Wizard-Theif gave Agape a searching look. There was no way her boss would tell her to do that unless…

"And he wants you to write a review on each spa you visit," Mossnose added.

There was the downside Wizard-Theif was looking for.

Mossnose heard Wizard-Theif mutter a curse and watched as the incarnation stood up. She noticed that Wizard-Theif was swaying and almost fell on her way back to bed. Agape and Mossnose leaped up to help her, but Wizard-Theif brushed them off. Once Wizard-Theif was in her room, Agape and Mossnose traded a look.

"Well… that went… well," Agape said.

"I just hope she is well enough to travel. The flight is at night so I think she'll enjoy that part of the trip," Mossnose replied.

"What are we going to do if she can't travel?"

"Try to find some other sort of punishment I guess. But I wouldn't worry. Wizard-Theif is tough; she'll be well by then."

"If you say so."

* * *

The next morning Wizard-Theif slept right through the day again and appeared at dusk looking a bit better but still worse for wear.

"Sleep well?" Mossnose asked as Wizard-Theif got herself some decaffeinate tea.

"No, and I don't want to talk about why," Wizard-Theif replied as she sat down at the table.

"I'm back!" Agape announced as she walked into the apartment.

Wizard-Theif sipped her tea and noticed that Agape was dressed up. "Where did you go?"

Agape blushed and muttered her answer so quietly that neither demon could hear it. Wizard-Theif decided to let the matter sit and just sipped her decaf. Mossnose on the other hand wasn't so kind. Obviously she had never heard the saying curiosity killed the cat or she just thought it didn't apply to cat demons.

"What was that?" she asked.

Agape blushed even more and then whispered, "On a date."

Mossnose's eyes widened, but she didn't ask anymore questions. When Spidey came over she would do that.

Agape took this silence as time to change the subject. She grabbed a box of cookies and then sat down at the table. "So what happened to you today?"

"I was at work, and Wizard-Theif slept," Mossnose explained.

"Did you have that dream again?" Agape asked Wizard-Theif.

The demonic incarnation of darkness sighed. "Might as well have. I haven't slept so badly since I was little and had nightmares every night."

"Okay! What is that dream you two keep talking about?!" Mossnose demanded.

Agape was about to explain but stopped to take a look at Wizard-Theif. The lady just sighed again and said, "We might as well tell her, but you can't tell Spidey!"

"Alright, I swear I won't tell Spidey," Mossnose said.

Wizard-Theif looked out from under her bangs with a suspicious gaze. "Cross your heart, hope to die?"

Mossnose glared back. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

Wizard-Theif nodded, and then Agape explained. "She had the dream-"

An angry blood red aura surrounded Wizard-Theif as she cut in. "She doesn't need to know when I had it. She just needs the vague details."

Agape ignored her and continued. "She had the dream two nights after Grandma Akane died."

Wizard-Theif's dark and angry aura disappeared and was replaced by a sad one. Grandma Akane was an elderly lady that Mossnose and Wizard-Theif had met the first time they entered Domino City in the year 1992. She knew Mossnose as Sentai Yamaneko and Wizard-Theif as Amber Kanika until a week or so before her death in 2001 when Wizard-Theif told the old lady about their true lives. The old lady had died from cancer and was ninety-nine at the time. The mention of her name always made Wizard-Theif become quiet and reserved because the old lady reminded her of the grandmother and family she never had. Grandma Akane also affected Mossnose too but not as much as Wizard-Theif.

When Mossnose was just a kit (over five hundred years ago) she lived with a clowder of cat demons until a traitor rose up and killed everyone except for Mossnose and her little brother. After that moment, Mossnose swore revenge and left her little brother in the care of a neighbouring clowder. When she found the traitor, she killed the cat demon and was faced by another demon who was planning on eating her. The demon was about to eat Mossnose alive when Wizard-Theif walked in on the fight and scared the demon away. Since Mossnose still remembered her life in her clowder, Grandma Akane was more like a great aunt than a grandmother.

In any case, the old lady had helped the girls out of many scraps. When they were trying to get used to Japan again after two hundred years absence, she showed them around, taught them how to cook and many other things. She was also part of the reason the girls met Spidey in the first place. The old lady had told the girls about a decently priced apartment in her building, and the girls had moved in. If Grandma Akane hadn't told them about the apartment, Spidey would still be Elena Anderson of Canada, instead of Elena Ishtar of England. Grandma Akane also helped Wizard-Theif get over the pain of her past that she barely remembered.

Ever since Grandma Akane passed on, Wizard-Theif annually traveled to Sakata, Japan to visit the old lady's grave. When she returned, Wizard-Theif would always lock herself in her room for a week and refused to eat anything. After that week was up Wizard-Theif would be back to normal. Now after hearing that name Wizard-Theif zoned out for a moment.

"Wizard-Theif?"

The incarnation looked up. "What?"

"It was two nights after, right?" Agape asked.

Wizard-Theif nodded and then retreated back to drinking her tea as if Grandma Akane had never been mentioned.

"Anyways, in her dream she and Bakura were talking."

Wizard-Theif saw Mossnose sit a bit straighter as her attention was caught. "Oh?"

Wizard-Theif glared in her direction. "Yes, I was talking to him but I don't remember what about and then the gang showed up."

"The gang as in-?"

"Malik, Atemu, Yugi, Ryou, you, Kaiba, Spidey, Agape and Bakari," Wizard-Theif quickly said. The faster the dream was told, the faster she could forget about it.

"Apparent we were all at a party." Agape added with emphasis, "with drinks."

Mossnose helped herself to a cookie. "Our gang and alcohol, not a wise mix."

Wizard-Theif slowly shook her head. "I don't know if it was alcoholic drinks or not but we were acting really weird. So Bakura leaves, and you and other girls come over to talk to me."

"And you asked, 'how are things going with Bakura?'" Agape said with a smile.

Mossnose looked confused. "I said that? Not Spidey?"

Wizard-Theif nodded. "As I said, we were acting really weird."

"But that's not the best part," Agape added.

Wizard-Theif glared at her. "Don't you mean, 'that's not the worst part'?"

Agape ignored Wizard-Theif and continued. "Guess what she said in reply."

Mossnose thought for a moment and then said, "Great?"

Agape's smile grew, and Wizard-Theif sunk lower into her chair.

"Nope."

"I love him?"

"Better than that."

Mossnose thought for a moment. "Awesome?"

"More amusing than that," Agape replied with a growing grin.

"Tell me already! I'm dying here."

"Ok… She… said…"

"I said I was married to him! You happy now!?" Wizard-Theif said as she put her head on the table.

The room was silent for a moment, and then Wizard-Theif heard something that sounded like snickering. She looked up to see Mossnose and Agape trying not to laugh. Wizard-Theif glared at them for a moment before giving up. "Go ahead and laugh."

Mossnose and Agape did just that but, they had a grateful look in their eyes.

"You… said you… we're… married?" Mossnose asked between laughs.

"I just thought of something," Agape said through her laughs. "Can a Prodigium and a human even have a kid?"

"Where did you hear I was a Prodigium?" Wizard-Theif asked Agape.

"Hang on!" Mossnose cut in. "What's a Prodigium?"

Wizard-Theif sighed and then tried to explain. "I'm a Prodigium."

"I thought you were an incarnation of darkness."

"I am but I'm also a Prodigium."

"So what is a Prodigium?"

Wizard-Theif glared at her. "If you would just stop talking, I would tell you."

Mossnose obeyed Wizard-Theif and started stuffing her face with cookies so that she wouldn't interrupt.

Wizard-Theif sighed again before she started attempting to explain. "Okay. Both are you are Earthlings right?"

Both the younger girls nodded.

"Well a Prodigium is the same thing as an Earthling."

"Do you come from a planet called Prodi?" Agape asked before she quickly added, "Bakari didn't tell me what the planet was called."

Wizard-Theif shrugged. "I don't think he knows what it's called because he never told me. Anyways-"

"Wait! You're from another planet?!" Mossnose demanded.

With a groan Wizard-Theif rubbed her temples. "This is why I never told you or Spidey. You two overreact to everything. Bakura was way better when he found out."

"What did he do when he found out?" Agape asked.

Wizard-Theif almost laughed. "He fell off his bed, but he was only seven at the time so he took it really well."

"When did you meet him?" Mossnose asked.

"We first saw each other at the center of Kul Elna in the middle of the slaughtering, but I didn't talk to him until a few hours later when he tackled me to the ground after a good game of chase." Before the other girls could ask why Bakura was chasing Wizard-Theif, she explained. "I think he was chasing me because I was an intruder. It was really fun though." She shook her head. "Anyways, you wanted to know what a Prodigium was right?"

"Yeah," Mossnose replied.

"Well there are two kinds of Prodigiums. There are the ones that look like angels and are incarnations of light, and then there are the ones that look like me and Bakari who are incarnations of darkness."

"How come Bakari has wings but you don't?" Agape asked.

"Bakari has wings?" Mossnose cut in once more.

Wizard-Theif and Agape nodded.

"He keeps them hidden under his jacket that he is always wearing. That's why he doesn't go swimming with us. How did you know Agape?"

Both Wizard-Theif and Mossnose turned to look at the girl who suddenly started fidgeting.

"Well… you know that date I was on…" she shyly said.

Wizard-Theif's eyes widened. "Oh my Ra! That child molester! Agape he's-"

Agape cut Wizard-Theif off with surprising harshness. "Wizard-Theif I know how old he is, and if we really want to get technical he is the same age as me because he died when he was eighteen and was brought back so that he still had his eighteen year old body only eight years ago so he is only really twenty-six."

"But he was eighteen over 5000 years ago!"

"But he didn't age during those 5000 years, and he wasn't in this world like you. If anyone is a child molester it's you because you like like Bakura."

Wizard-Theif slowly moved out of her chair. "One, I don't like like Bakura. And two, even if I did, I'm not a child molester, if we **really** want to get technical I stopped aging when I turned twenty."

"Yeah well-"

Mossnose saw that a fight was going to start out so she let out a small cough. "Wizard-Theif, you never explained to Agape why Bakari had wings but you didn't anymore."

Wizard-Theif suddenly stiffened and sat down. She was careful not to answer right away because she needed time to brace herself for the reaction. "I never said I didn't have them anymore," she said slowly. "I just never show them. The only people who know about them are Bakura, Bakari, and Ryou."

Mossnose stood up front her chair and leaned over the table. "What?! Why didn't you tell me and Spidey!? I thought that they were ripped off during World War II! What other secrets have you been hiding from us?"

Wizard-Theif held her hands in front of her as if they were a shield. "I was going to tell you guys, but I couldn't find a good time to tell you guys."

Mossnose glared at her. "You'd better have, but why does Ryou know?"

"Because of Bakari," Agape explained. "Since they all live together it's kinda hard not to know. Anyways, about my question."

Mossnose seemed to have gotten over the fact that Wizard-Theif had left her and Spidey in the dark really fast. "What was your question?"

"Can a Prodigium and a human have a kid?"

Wizard-Theif was taking a sip of tea when Agape said that. Her eyes opened and widened causing Mossnose to laugh. With enormous willpower Wizard-Theif managed to swallow. "What the hell are you thinking about that for?"

With a grin Agape replied, "Well if you and Bakura are married then-"

Wizard-Theif was blushing ten different shades of red as she hissed, "Shut up Agape! That was a dream! Ra! What are they teaching you in school? I have half a mind to call up your school and scream bloody murder at them."

"Probably," Mossnose said as her laughter at Wizard-Theif display slowed. "I mean demons can have kids with humans. There are just some side effects like cute little ears or a tail. For Prodigiums the kid would probably have wings."

Wizard-Theif paled. "Mossnose!"

She shrugged. "Well you weren't going to answer her."

"Still! She shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that! She's too young!"

"And you're too old to?"

Wizard-Theif looked at Mossnose and tried to come up with a comeback. When she couldn't she got up from the table. "I'm going back to bed."

Mossnose looked at her friend, worried. "Aren't you going to eat something?"

"I'm fine. I had something while you were at work," Wizard-Theif lied as she walked to her room. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Mossnose said quietly.

"Sleep well," Agape said in the same tone as the bedroom door closed.

With the door now closed, Wizard-Theif started to feel tears run down her face. Fearing that Mossnose and Agape might hear she went over to the far corner. The mention of Grandma Akane had brought her pass her breaking point.

What Agape had not so subtly implied wasn't helping either nor was the dream she had after she ran into Zorc. In the dream she was no bigger than a bat and was being slowly squeezed to death by a giant hand. The whole time she was struggling to release herself, someone was laughing. She was about to pass out from lack of oxygen when the hand suddenly disappeared, and she fell to the ground. The laughter didn't stop though and keep taunting her by changing. One moment it was Zorc's, then it was Bakura's when he was Zorc's pawn, and then it was some other person. The rest of the dream was just people laughing and telling her the horrors she would do. She screamed at them until her voice failed, but it did no good. The voices just kept coming.

Now back in her room, Wizard-Theif shook her head as more tears ran down her face. All the stress was killing her as pain, sadness, and anger mixed together. Finally, she was able to tell herself that Agape was right. The stress was getting to her, and it was royally messing with her head. Then she remembered some of the factors to her stress weren't all in her head.

An example would be the evening after Zorc had warned her about becoming a bat. She wasn't sure how or why, but she had awoken without anything on. Scared out of her wits, she tried to talk some sense into herself after getting back into her pj's. She decided that the stress had caused her to start moving around in her sleep. As a result she must have somehow managed to slip out of her clothing while she was sleep moving.

Now, as the tears started to slow, Wizard-Theif looked out the window at the snow covered Big Ben. She tried to remember something good that had happened to her recently. Even the memory of meeting little Harry was tainted by the arrival of his uncle and Zorc. Finally, Wizard-Theif gave up and went to her bed. Her stomach was complaining, but she ignored it. After eating the soup the night before, she had learnt it was a better idea to go without food until the sickness passed. If she couldn't keep down soup what hope did she have for other foods?

Slowly sleep came, and the sandman was merciful allowing Wizard-Theif to not have any nightmares that night. But, little did she know that the next morning was going to be worse than any nightmare the sandman could come up with.

* * *

**A/N: Is it just me or are the chapters getting shorter? The first one was about 21 pages, second was about 13 and now this one is 15. Not that it really matters though because this has been uploaded all in one go so no waiting necessary… Wait! What?! That can't be right! Wow… it is. Weird… Anyways, please review before moving on to the next chapter. Happy birthday Spidey.**

**-WT**


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: Italics equals thoughts, bold equals emphasis, and underline is a language other than English. Ok?**

**Warnings: This has some spoilers/references for the plot of 'TAT' and 'CTWS?' and Yu Yu Hakusho which I don't own. (Some of this chapter was written just after my Yu Yu Hakusho phase and the beginning of my .Hack/SIGN phase.)**

**A/N: Not sure how long this story is going to be but surprisingly, I'm actually having fun writing it. Maybe because there is no romance yet. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Jean, anything that has to do with the Prodigiums, and Wizard-Theif. _

* * *

When Masika makes a simple mistake she knew that there was going to be trouble. What she didn't picture was a man telling her to help him destroy the world, another man telling her that she was pretty, and being in Paris. So who are these guys anyways?

* * *

Chapter 4

Damn: the word you use to when you thought things couldn't get any worse and they did

The next morning Wizard-Theif awoke actually feeling fine with no headache or nausea. That was before she noticed how big her bed was and how big her pj's were. After a moment, she wondered if she was still dreaming and was about to pinch herself when she realized she didn't have any hands. It was at that moment that she noticed she no longer had her human looking body anymore. The wings that were usually on her back had now replaced her arms and her small body was covered with navy blue fur. Somehow she had been turned into a bat. Desperately trying not to panic, Wizard-Theif tried to figure out what was going on.

"_Don't panic! Whatever you do, don't panic_," she thought to herself. Suddenly she remembered as children Bakura and she had found a spell book. After using one spell so many times the magic merged with her thus giving her a very useful ability.

"_Idiot! I'm such an idiot! I must have transformed in my sleep, unless this is a dream. In any case I can transform back. And if this is a nightmare where I can't transform Mossnose and Agape will wake me up. Might as well pinch myself to figure out if this is a dream or not._" Wizard-Theif thought. She went to pinch herself again when she remembered she didn't have fingers anymore. "_Okay. No problem, I'll just transform then._" Closing her eyes, she concentrated. She felt her magic start to work and then suddenly fade. Thinking that the transformation took less time than usual, Wizard-Theif opened her eyes to see that she was still a bat.

"… _Okay. Don't panic. Mossnose will be here any second now to wake me up… right?_"

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and Wizard-Theif sighed. "_Thank you, Mossnose. I should be human now._" The bat girl looked down to see that she was still a bat girl.

"Eep!"

"Wizard-Theif! Get up!" Mossnose shouted through the door.

"_Think! Think!"_ "I'll be out in a second." "_Eep! I sound like a mouse on helium! This must be what Zorc was talking about! OH! When I get my hands on him! He is going t-_"

"Wizard-Theif? You okay?"

"_Maybe pretending to be okay will make her go away."_ "I'm fine."

"You sound like a chipmunk with a head cold."

"_So mice on helium and chipmunks with head colds sound the same?" "_I have a bit of a cold but I'll be fine. I'll be out in a minute."

"No. Stay in bed. You're plane is leaving tomorrow, and we can't have you being sick."

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Fine. I'll go back to bed." "_Later that is._" The bat girl didn't move from her bed until she heard Mossnose walk away. Once she was sure that the cat demon wouldn't hear anything, Wizard-Theif tried to get down to the floor without killing herself. Luckily, her pillows had also fallen off the bed when she did, and they managed to land on the floor first.

Wizard-Theif looked up at the bed and then at the time, 3:50 pm. Mossnose was being nice it seemed. That or Wizard-Theif had managed to sleep through all her other attempts. Most of her past was spent being a thief and hunted so she was a light sleeper. Then the new millennium hit (2000) and Wizard-Theif had turned into a deep sleeper. When Mossnose and Spidey found out they started trying to prank her, but even in a deep sleep, Wizard-Theif was a force to be reckoned with.

The bat girl looked over to the window to see that the sun was already starting to set. Suddenly her body started glowing gold. Fearing that Mossnose might see the glow from under the door Wizard-Theif tried to get back onto the bed so that she could hide in the covers. The result was that the covers joined Wizard-Theif and the pillows on the floor, but to Wizard-Theif's relief they blocked out the glowing.

Suddenly Wizard-Theif felt very tired, and she closed her eyes. She could feel her small bat body being lifted but didn't try to do anything. The covers that surrounded her were wiped around her by some mythical wind. Through her closed eye lids Wizard-Theif was aware of a gold sparkle and a black glowing. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the wind disappeared, and Wizard-Theif fell to the floor with a bang. The covers that were wiping around her fell neatly on top of her.

She heard Mossnose and Agape rush into the room and slowly opened her eyes to look at them. Both girls were staring down at Wizard-Theif, and the girl slowly realized that she was a human looking Prodigium again. She looked over to her back and saw that her wings were back where they belonged. A thought hit Wizard-Theif as she realized this. If her pj's were still on the bed and she was on the floor, what was covering her up? She looked down and breathed a sigh of relief. Her covers covered her and her wings completely.

"Wizard-Theif?" Agape asked. "You okay?"

Wizard-Theif avoided eye contact with the girl as she thought over how she could reply. "I'm just a bit stress," she decided to say. "I missed the bed when I went to sit down on it. I'm fine though. Just go back to doing whatever you were doing."

The younger girls nodded and left the room and Wizard-Theif to her thoughts. Wizard-Theif sighed as she stood up. She pulled the covers close and went over to the window to close it. Once it was closed she debated whether to lock it or not. In the end she decided to, and then she sat down on her bed. She hadn't really thought about it until now but now as she looked at her pj's, she wondered. In some movies, animes, and stuff, whenever you transformed you magically kept your clothes or got new ones. Slowly she managed to gather her courage and was just about to learn the answer to her unasked question when she heard a small chuckle from the darkest corner of her room.

At once, she pulled the covers closer and grabbed a knife from her desk which she kept in case of an emergency. She turned and threw it where she heard the chuckling. The knife hit the wall. There was nothing there. Wizard-Theif felt her knees give way, and she sank to the floor. It was just her imagination.

"Is that really what you think I am?"

The voice made Wizard-Theif jump up and turn around. That was Zorc's voice. She knew it! But when she looked to where she heard the voice there was nothing there.

"_Oh Hell! Now I know how Kurama felt when that sicko,_ _Karasu, was playing with him._"

As if to prove her metaphor truer a voice said, "I know you fear what my touch could do you to you. And yet maybe you also want to know it."

Wizard-Theif couldn't help but scream, "Get the hell away from-"

"Wizard-Theif! Stop that! Yelling at Karasu to get away from Kurama isn't going to change the story line! If you are going to do that every time you see that clip then don't watch it! And turn down the volume on your computer! And go to bed!" Mossnose yelled through the door.

Wizard-Theif turned to look at her computer in numb shock as she saw that her computer was on, and the volume was at full blast. At the moment she noticed it, Karasu was just telling Kurama that when he liked something he liked to take it away. Still in shock, she walked over to her computer and stopped the clip. She just sat there for a moment trying to make sense of what had just happened. After a moment she realized that her MSN was active. One of her contacts had sent her a link to that clip, and her computer had started to play it just as it was programmed to do.

For a moment Wizard-Theif almost wondered how the computer had turned on by itself when she remembered that she had been using it last night. Just before she was to go to bed, she decided not to shut it down and left her an anime episode on pause. The villain sounded just like Zorc. That explained where Zorc's chuckle had come from since she had put speakers all around her room. Also her computer had a mind of its own and tended to start playing videos when it was left unused. Wizard-Theif didn't really mind that little effect until now. Giving the computer a death glare she said, "If you ever do that again. I will personally take you apart and smack you into tiny little pieces." To her amusement, the computer's screen went black, and she lay down on the bed.

She let out a sigh and thought over what had just happened. Her eyes narrowed at the thought of Zorc's threat. If he thought that a transformation into a bat was enough to make her beg, he was pathetically mistaken. Then again, she had just threatened a supposedly inanimate object.

After another moment of thought she came to a very useful conclusion. Her life was so screwed up!

* * *

His life was so screwed up!

Bakura came to this conclusion as he sat waiting for his plane. For some reason, Bakari and Ryou had decided that it would be a good idea for Bakura to learn another language besides Egyptian, Japanese, the language of the Prodigiums, and English. At first Bakura thought it would be a good idea since it would give him something to do, and he would be able to tell if Wizard-Theif was swearing at him in another language. When Bakura found out that he would be going on a trip to learn, he thought it was no problem since he wasn't paying. His views changed when he learned what language they wanted him to learn.

"French? Why French?" he raged.

"More people speak French now and besides, since you know English it will be easier to learn," Ryou pointed out.

"But I can only be away for three days! That isn't enough time for me to learn it."

"Well that's a shame."

Bakura looked at Ryou. Why was the young man looking so smug and passive?

"I guess I'll just have to think up some other form of punishment."

Bakura glared at his reincarnation and quickly text messaged Malik behind his back. If he was lucky the blond Egyptian would text back quickly so that he would have an excuse to leave the house. "Atemu was asking for it and you know he started it!"

"All he did was insult Wizard-Theif. That's nothing to start a Yami no Game over."

Bakura glared."But…" He fell silent when he couldn't think of a way to end the sentence without stabbing himself in the back. "Fine. But how come he doesn't have to do any form of punishment?"

Ryou sighed. "He does. He has to work for Kaiba for a week, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Bakura almost snickered, "sucker."

"Now about your punishment."

Bakura frowned. _"Damn it," _he thought._ "Malik! Hurry up and text back before Ryou gives me my punishment!"_ "What about it? I'm not learning French and that is that."

Ryou got an evil glint in his eye. Luckily, it wasn't the Yami Bakura glint. It was more the 'you're going to regret that' glint he got from Bakura. "I suppose I could always just tell Spidey. I hear that she needs a new punishment for Wizard-Theif. Maybe forcing you two to go on a date will wor-"

"_Damn you Malik."_ "Fine! I'll learn French! You happy now?"

The glint didn't leave Ryou's eyes. "Who says you get to choose your punishment?"

Bakura's jaw dropped. What happened to the sweet and innocent Ryou? "How can you to this to me!?" Bakura demanded.

"Could you do it to me?" Ryou asked.

That made Bakura pause. "As long as you don't use puppy eyes."

"Then since I'm you, I can do it to you. Oh and you're learning French."

He then left the room leaving Bakura with a headache.

Even as he sat at the airport Bakura felt the headache reappear. Before he could dwell on it his flight was called. Gathering his stuff, and with a glare in the direction of Ryou's house, Bakura got on the flight.

* * *

Wizard-Theif looked out of her hotel room to see that the moon was disappearing. She wasn't worried though; she still had hours before dawn came so she was still a Prodigium. The day that she had first learned about her curse was spent learning about her curse since she couldn't afford to get caught while she was away. One thing that she learned was that whenever she transformed there was a flash of light. Another thing she learned was that she was a bat from dawn until dusk and human from dusk until dawn. "_Just like that Ra-damned Swan Princess_," Wizard-Theif thought as she looked out her window again.

The view was of the snow covered Eiffel Tower, but she wasn't impressed. The only thing the tower did was make her homesick for the pyramids in Egypt and Big Ben in England. She wasn't sure why she felt so attached to those structures, but she guessed it was because they were familiar. "_If I was still at home with this curse, I might not feel this stressed_," she thought. "_Still, this room is nice._"

She looked around the room again as she thought that. There were two beds with a night table on each side and one in-between. On the middle night table there was a vase of flowers, a phone book, and a phone. The walls were a light cream colour with the bed's being a nice blue. Wizard-Theif didn't look at the room the same way tourist did though. When she looked at the room, she looked at it as a reporter would. She was pleased to see that everything looked neat and clean. She frowned though when she thought about having to ask Kaiba about how much the hotel cost since he was paying for the trip. The jerk would probably annoy the hell out of her before he gave her the answer.

After a moment, she moved from the window and stretched. She went over to the phone book and started looking up all the different spas. If the spas weren't open after dusk then she wouldn't be able to do her punishment which would be both a blessing and a curse. It would be a blessing because then she wouldn't have to go to any spas, but it would be a curse because she would get another punishment that was worse than the spa one. To both her relief and dismay all the spas were open after dusk. After a bit, she managed to get a schedule worked out so that she would be back home in about three days time. She fell back onto her bed.

"_Thank Ra Spidey, Mossnose or Agape didn't come with me_," Wizard-Theif thought as she lay on the bed closest to the window. "_It would have been pandemonium if they had. Probably would have made me go back home and make me ask the guys for help. That on its own would be murder since Kaiba and Atemu would never let me live it down. That and my pride would kill me. Then after everything was back to normal they would give me another punishment._"

She was about to fall asleep when she heard the phone ring. Reaching over she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hello mademoiselle." Wizard-Theif recognized the heavy accented voice as the manager. "There was a problem at the airport with the flights. Many of the planes have stopped working due to the cold so many passengers found themselves without a room. Many hotels, including our own, have taken it upon themselves to room these passengers. "

Wizard-Theif nodded, forgetting that the manager couldn't see her.

"We only need to room one more person until the planes are fixed, which probably won't be for three days. Usually we would not ask such an outrageous thing but-"

"It will be perfectly fine if someone was to room with me," Wizard-Theif said before she could stop herself. As soon as the words left her mouth Wizard-Theif wondered if she was insane. How was she supposed to keep her batty little problem a secret if someone was sharing the room?

"You are an angel, mademoiselle. Merci. The monsieur will be arriving shortly."

Before Wizard-Theif could even think the line went dead. Slowly she thought over that last sentence, and most of the colour she had in her face disappeared. "_Monsieur! Does he mean that...? A guy?! I'm sharing a room with a guy I don't even know! Oh Isis! Please help me out here! Okay, don't panic. Don't panic. As long as he isn't an early riser or in the room at dusk I won't get caught. Just breathe, just breathe… Wait. I'm rooming with a guy I don't know and the thing I'm most worried about is getting caught?! Ra. I need to sort out my priorities."_

The door unlocked and opened to reveal a bellhop who walked in holding a suitcase.

"Hello mademoiselle. The monsieur already knows about the situation," the bellhop said in a friendly French accented voice.

Wizard-Theif could only nod as she watched the bellhop put down the suitcases.

The bellhop smiled at her as if trying to comfort her and said, "If anything is not to your liking just call for Jean."

She managed to give him a small smile before he turned to speak to the man who would be sharing a room with her.

"Bonne nuit."

"Goodnight," replied Wizard-Theif and the stranger who she was rooming with.

The man stepped into the room, and they looked at each other in shock.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" they demanded to know at the same time.

They paused and then said at the same time, "Punishment?"

Wizard-Theif groaned. "I knew that the spa thing wasn't a bad enough punishment."

"Spa punishment?" Bakura asked.

"I have to go to every single spa in Paris."

Bakura nodded sympathetically. "Harsh."

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you?"

"I was supposed to be flying to Lyon to learn French."

Wizard-Theif looked at Bakura oddly, "In three days?"

He shrugged as he removed his winter coat and lied down on the bed. "Ryou's idea, not mine."

The room was then silent as Bakura quickly fell asleep. Wizard-Theif noticed this and then remembered that Bakura was a light sleeper. The light from her transformation might wake him up and that was the last thing she wanted. She looked outside to see that she still had some time before dawn so she pulled out her notebook and made some notes about the hotel. When she was done with that, she started working on her new fan fiction. Once or twice she looked out the window to see how long she had until dawn.

Slowly, she began to feel tired so she focused all her energy into writing so that she wouldn't fall asleep. If she did there was a very good chance that Bakura would find out about her. She kept a careful eye on the movement of the moon, but if a snake entered the room she wouldn't have noticed since the door was on the other side of the room. In fact she missed seeing a small dark purple light that glowed for about thirty seconds behind her at 6:00am.

When the sun was about to appear she got up, grabbed some clothes and went into the washroom. She didn't even lock the door since she needed to make it look like she had left the room to go 'enjoy' Paris. Acting quickly, she removed her clothes and hid both pairs of clothes since she wouldn't be able to even move them in her bat form. The next second her body started glowing, and a freezing cold wind came from the unlocked window. A second after that Wizard-Theif was on the ground in her bat form.

She looked up at the window and then started flapping her wings. If she could make it to the window then she could hang upside down just outside it until just before dusk. Just before dusk she would fly through the window, transform back into a human, get dressed, and then go to her punishment. The plan was flawless except for two things. One, the plan wouldn't work if she froze to death first and two, she couldn't fly just yet.

After many hours of attempts she was just barely hovering above the floor but was too tired to get any higher. She cursed herself for never paying attention to how her wings usually worked. If she had, she might be able to fly now. After another hour of torture, she finally stopped to take a break. While she rested, she cursed. After a moment or two she realized that what she said and what she wanted to say were two different things.

"_Damn it! Now I really sound like a bat! When I turn back into a Prodigium and get my hands on Zorc, he's going to wish that-_" Her thoughts were cut off as Bakura walked over to the washroom.

He rubbed his right eye as he looked over at the window. "The baka must have left the window open." With a yawn, Bakura closed the window and then noticed Wizard-Theif. "So that was what was making all that noise." With catlike grace he carefully kneeled down and picked up Wizard-Theif. "So are you Masika's new pet?"

Wizard-Theif said nothing but glared at him.

He just laughed and said, "You have the same look as her so you must be. Weird though, I thought that she knew how to take care of animals." With a sigh he walked out of the bathroom.

While he walked, Wizard-Theif tried to stop the growing fear of falling that was flowing through her. Finally Bakura stopped walking and put her down on the night table closest to the window.

"Just don't fall off," he said when he saw her looking over the edge of the night table.

Wizard-Theif watched as he went over to his suitcase and pulled out some clothes. For a second, she was worried that he was going to change in front of her just like in fan fictions. To her relief, Bakura went into the washroom to change. When he came out, he walked over with a dish filled with water in hand.

"Just in case you get thirsty," he said as he stroked her wing. "I'm going out for a bit. If Masika comes back tell her that, okay?"

Wizard-Theif wasn't sure what to do so she squeaked. Bakura took this as an 'okay' and got dressed to face the chilly weather outside. Once he was prepared, he left the room leaving Wizard-Theif to die of boredom. He had been gone only two seconds, and she was bored out of her mind. She was too tired to try to fly so she just sat on the night table. After a moment or two she looked over at the clock, 12:30pm. She still had about four hours before she would be a Prodigium again. "_Time flies when you're having fun,_" she thought sarcastically.

Slowly she began to feel sleepy. After a moment or two she decided that the bed would be more comfortable to sleep on vs. the hard surface of the night table. Since the drossiness and the fact she was a bat were messing up her mobility skills, she ended up falling on her face at least three times before she fell into the bed's soft blankets. Even though it was completely pointless to get under the covers she did, and she instantly fell asleep.

When she awoke a many hours later she noticed that she was a Prodigium again. She also noticed a man in the shadow of the curtains.

"Did you enjoy your nap, Masika?" he asked.

Gathering the covers closer, Wizard-Theif tried to cover herself the best that she could. She tried to calm her rapid heartbeat. "_Calm down. He didn't see anything or else he would have commented on it,_" she thought as she said, "What the hell are you doing there?"

He stepped out of the shadows. "Just doing a routine check to make sure that the curse is doing its job," Zorc explained.

If Wizard-Theif didn't feel exposed, she sure did now. "So you've come into my room every night just to make sure that your curse is working?"

"No, just did it tonight so that I could ask you if you were willing to help me now."

Her glare intensified. "Burn in Hell."

Zorc just shrugged before opening the window. "Since you're hotel mate is coming up the stairs as we speak I might leave. I'll be back tomorrow to see if you've changed your mind."

"Don't bother! It won't have!"

"We'll see." The next moment Zorc jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.

Wizard-Theif sat there for a few seconds before summoning her powers. Her intention was to use her darkness trick to merge with the shadows in the bedroom. Once merged she could transport herself to the shadows in the bathroom, that way she didn't have to risk getting spotted on her way over to the bathroom. Unfortunately her powers had other plans in mind and when she opened her eyes she saw that she was still in the bed.

Luckily she had a backup plan. No one had come to the door yet so she was able to grab a house coat, slip it on and run to the bathroom. Once inside the bathroom Wizard-Theif wet her hair down and then dried it to make it look like she just came out of the shower. She quickly slipped on the clothing she had hid before and mentally braced herself for the horrors of the spa she was soon to face.

* * *

Bakura felt a major headache coming on as he slowly made his way to his hotel room. "_Note to self: Never EVER get on the wrong side of a French person, especially when you have no idea what they are saying_," Bakura thought as he unlocked the door to his and Wizard-Theif's hotel room.

Not even bothering to take off his boots or coat, Bakura fell face down on his bed. He heard the bathroom door open and looked up to see Wizard-Theif looking at him in confusion.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

Trying not to make his headache worse, Bakura slowly sat up. "The French have it in for me, that's all," he explained.

"What did they do? Drug your drink?"

Bakura glared at her. "No, they just have a really hard left hook."

She shook her head. "Jeez Bakura. You haven't been here a full day and you're already getting into fights."

"He started it."

Wizard-Theif rolled her eyes as she grabbed her backpack with her journalist tools like notebook, camera and wallet. "Sure he did."

Bakura didn't even try to convince her but instead changed the subject. "What's the point of washing your hair if they are just going to do it at the spa?"

She didn't even turn to face him. "I like my shampoo better. I'll talk to you later."

Wizard-Theif was almost at the door when Bakura suddenly remembered something. "Hey Masika, are you afraid of cobras?"

"Bakura, this is France not Egypt they don't have cobras here unless you…" Her face suddenly paled. "Oh Ra no. Bakura please tell me you didn't."

He gave her a confused look. "Do what? I was just asking a simple question. Are you still afraid of cobras?"

She glared at him. "Bakura! You know perfectly well I am and you know why! One; my powers don't work when one is within ten feet of me. And two; those things are the only creatures on this planet that can kill me without trying. All it takes is four bites, poison or not to kill me. If you brought a cobra in here, I will personally kill you, powers or not."

"_Note to self: avoid Masika from six am to twelve pm and from six pm to twelve am,_" Bakura thought as he replied, "I was just asking. What about other kinds of snakes?"

She glared at him, and he let out a nervous laugh. "So that's a no. Wow, you haven't changed much from Ancient Egypt."

Her eyes suddenly had a glint of evil appear. "What about you? Still afraid of cooties?"

Bakura went on the defensive and frowned. "I'm not afraid of girls I just don't like them like that."

"So you run from them?"

"It's better than talking to them and having them throw themselves at me." Bakura watched Wizard-Theif walk over to where her winter coat was and then another thought hit him. "Masika, why are spas open pass midnight?"

She gave him a confused look. "They aren't, why?"

Bakura pointed at the clock which read 1:23am. "Because it's past midnight."

It was hard to say whether Wizard-Theif was happy or annoyed by this information. All she did was put her backpack down and grab the phone. Bakura watched for a moment as she ordered room service, before turning on the TV. To his annoyance all the channels were in French. After a few seconds of trying to figure out what people were talking about, Bakura turned off the TV and just stared at the ceiling.

"Having trouble with your punishment?" Wizard-Theif asked.

Bakura didn't look away from the ceiling but said, "No more than you are."

"That's too bad," Wizard-Theif said in French with a smile.

Bakura gave her an odd look. "Huh?"

Her grin grew. "I said, 'that's too bad.'"

Bakura frowned. "Are you swearing at me in French?"

"Why would you ever think that?"

"Masika!"

"What? I'm helping you."

"Urgh!" Bakura fell back onto his bed with his hands over his face. "_Why French? Why not Latin, or Chinese? Why Ra-damned French!? And why do I have to learn it here!? Why did my flight have to get screwed up!? And why does _she_ have to be here too? Why?!_" he thought to himself.

"Sink or swim Bakura. Sink or swim."

"All I got out of that was my name."

"I'll take that as a sink then," Wizard-Theif said before she called for some room service also in French. After she finished the call, they sat in silence for a while until Bakura spoke again.

"I hate you so much right now."

Wizard-Theif just shrugged and threw a book at him before going to the door to get her food. While she was at the door, Bakura looked over the book she had thrown to him. To his relief, it was a French-English dictionary.

After Wizard-Theif got her food, she sat down on her bed and started eating. She offered some to Bakura but wouldn't give it to him until he replied in French. After five minutes of attempting to pronounce the words right, Wizard-Theif finally gave Bakura the food she had offered him.

During those five minutes Bakura learned something very important. The dictionary would only give him an idea of what to say but not how to say it in a sentence. Also because of the speed French was spoken at, most of what Wizard-Theif said was forgotten before Bakura could translate. Bakura also learned that what Wizard-Theif said and what was in the book were to vastly different things. He assumed Wizard-Theif was using slang just to annoy him since slang wasn't in the dictionary.

Needless to say, Wizard-Theif enjoyed herself immensely during those five minutes. She enjoyed herself so much that she continued speaking in French. She didn't stop until it was almost two o'clock. "Okay, I think that completes today's lesson," she said in English at 1:59am.

Bakura glared at her before lying down on his bed and staring at the ceiling. After a moment, he sighed and went over to one of his suitcases. He dug around in it for a moment before he pulled out a black hard covered book. At first glance, the book appeared brand-new but when Wizard-Theif looked a second time, she noticed that only the cover that was new. The pages were yellow with age and made not from paper but from papyrus sheets. When Bakura opened the book, Wizard-Theif also saw that the pages were held together with a small piece of rope.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

Bakura looked at her and with a small smile and said, "Yeah. It's the same book that we had when we were kids."

She stared. "But that was over 5000 years ago. How is it still in one piece?!"

Bakura shrugged. "Does it really matter if it still has all the spells?"

Wizard-Theif gave him a suspicious look. "How did you manage to find it again?"

"One way or another Ryou got it so when I got my body he gave it to me."

"And you brought it on this trip… why?"

Bakura stopped himself from shifting uncomfortably. "Remember the spell you used to make me able to understand your language when we went to your world to take on the Immortal Council?"

Wizard-Theif tried to ignore the memories that were threatening to hit her. "Yeah... why...?" Suddenly, just like lightening, it hit her. "Bakura that spell only works for making a person understand the language of the Prodigiums, not French."

Bakura's smirk widened. "That's true but what you didn't notice was that there was one for learning French."

"Does Ryou know about this?"

Bakura shook his head. "If he did, I wouldn't be able to use the spell. For some reason, he thinks that I would take the easy way out."

"Aren't you going to do that right now?"

"I wasn't going to use the spell originally. I only brought the book so that I could research… something else."

"What changed your mind?"

"Three things. One, annoying as Hell waiters and French menus and two, you."

She frowned. "I'm touched, but Bakura have you forgotten that you have no knowledge of French what so ever?"

"Point?"

"You only get one chance, remember? And if you mess up you can't try again."

Bakura stuck out his tongue at her. "I know that. And I also remember that I can't have any help. I managed to do the spell the first time; I'll be able to do it again."

Wizard-Theif looked at him, sure that he was going to fail. "And how to you plan to do that?"

Bakura smirked again. "Simple. By guessing."

Wizard-Theif looked at him for a full second in disbelief. "You're going to use your Prodigium power of randomly guessing and being correct to make you say the spell correctly?"

"_I wasn't thinking of using that power but..._" he thought as he smiled. "When I die, and stay dead, I'm really going to have to thank Baraka for this power."

Wizard-Theif shook her head. "Just because you are Baraka's reincarnation, doesn't mean that you can abuse your powers."

Bakura gave her a confused look. "Why do you care how I use my powers? I may be Baraka's reincarnation but I'm not Baraka."

"You sure act like him."

"Name one time."

"I'll name five." She held up her hand and pointed one finger. "One. Before the incident in the tomb, you were very protective of me, and you were constantly acting like you were my guardian. Before Baraka died, it was his job to protect me." She pointed another finger. "Two. Baraka helped my brother teach me magic. You had Baraka's spell book when I came to your world and with your help, we learned various spells."

"You were doing most of the teaching," Bakura pointed out.

Wizard-Theif ignored him and pointed another finger. "Three. Baraka was my brother's best friend but he always acted distant. Even Ryou can say you seem distant to him."

Bakura was silent.

"Four. If you think a figure of authority is doing something wrong you rebel. Baraka rebelled against his father when he told Bakari what was going to happen to me when I grew up. Five. When we met Howahkan, Baraka's **father**," Wizard-Theif seemed to spit out the word, "you didn't really like him but you trusted him and wanted to please him. Baraka was the same even if he hid his dislike amazing well," Wizard-Theif finished. "_How he did that is beyond me. After all that pain… I probably would have left as soon as I was able,_" she thought as she waited for Bakura's reply.

Bakura tried to hide the shiver that ran down his back at the memory of the old Prodigium. Howahkan had acted nicer to him than he had to Baraka but whenever Bakura was around him, he sensed a threatening aura. As if the man was barely stopping himself from attacking Bakura. With an effort Bakura pulled his mind away from Howahkan and back to the present issue. "I'm not abusing my powers; I'm just using it to my advantage," he said.

"AKA abusing it."

Bakura glared at her. "You do the same thing all the time!"

She glared back. "Not on purpose!"

"Yeah right!"

"Bakura you are such a baka!"

The man smirked. "What's the matter? Couldn't come up with a better insult?"

Wizard-Theif glared at him and put a warm winter coat over the coat she was wearing to cover her wings. "I'm going out," she angrily answered Bakura's unasked question. "I'll be back later." Without waiting for a reply from Bakura, she closed the door and made her way down to the lobby. Once there she looked around for something to do. A sign for a twenty-four hour mall caught her eye.

"_Might as well get my Christmas shopping done while I'm here,_" she decided. If she was lucky, Bakura would be asleep when she got back and she would be able to hide the presents in peace. With such happy thoughts in her head, she set out into the city of Paris to go Christmas shopping.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter come and gone. Looks like I was wrong about the chapters getting shorter, this one is 22 pages. Anyways, Happy Birthday Spidey and thanks to L.A for betaing. Please review before moving onto the next chapter.**

**-WT**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Spidey you have .Hack/SIGN to thank for helping me write this chapter and L.A to thank for betaing.**

**Note: Italics equals thoughts, bold equals emphasis, and underline is a language other than English or the name of a business or play, story, etc. Ok?**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Jean, anything that has to do with the Prodigiums and Wizard-Theif. (A/N: Yeah. I did just copy and past the disclaimer. Every present has to have something bad about it.)_

* * *

When Bakura is dragged to a play by Ryou, he quits the first chance he gets. In his mind it was smart thing to do even though he now has to go to Paris. Will a flirting bellhop and the fact that he is sharing a hotel room with WT change his mind?

* * *

Chapter 5

Can you blame an older brother for being overprotective?

After Wizard-Theif had left, Bakura had taken off his coat and boots. He lay down on his bed again and started reading the book looking for anything that could help him with his problem. When he came to the French speaking spell, he quickly moved on. By four o'clock he had finished the book and had found nothing that described what was happening to him. He started reading over the book again and was finished rereading it again by 5:50am. With a growl of defeat, he moved away from the book and stared at the ceiling.

Two days. In two days he would return home, and his problem would be a crisis. He sighed and looked at his right hand which was covered by a glove. Slowly he lifted his ungloved left hand and removed the glove on his right hand. To his displeasure his right hand had gotten worse. The last time he had looked at it was on the plane, and it was only the top of his fingers that were covered. Now as he turned his hand over the new sea-foam white scales that covered his whole hand shined in the light.

"_Stupid curse,_" he thought as he glared at his hand but then he sighed. "_At least it doesn't feed off my magic, and the scales don't grow faster when I use my magic, but I can't find anything about them anywhere. The book had nothing so this curse can't be from the world of the Prodigiums. It must have to do with shadow magic then. I'm not turning into a card though. That other thing proves that. Maybe it does have to do with yami no games though. After all the first scale and transformation happened right after Atemu and I played that yami no game… No, that can't be it. Atemu and I have__ used shadow magic before and nothing like this ever happened."_

He sighed again. "_Until I figure out what is going on, I'll have to avoid Masika and cold places. There is no telling what she would do if she found out._

"_Thinking of Masika, I wonder where her bat went." _He frowned. "_It's too cold for it to survive outside. She must have taken it with her when she left. I wonder how she got it through customs though. Maybe French people are biased and only like you if you speak French. That could explain a lot. Now, how am I going to learn French?_"

After taking a moment or two to decide that he wasn't going to use the spell, Bakura looked over at the clock. To his horror it read that the time was almost 6:00am. To make matters worse he heard Wizard-Theif at the door. He didn't have much time so he quickly ducked under the covers of his bed and hoped that he would transform before Wizard-Theif entered the room.

It appeared luck was on his side. He transformed immediately and by the time Wizard-Theif had entered the room he was under his pillow. Silently he prayed that his good luck would hold. If it did the pillow would be able to keep him warm, and he wouldn't need to worry about moving to a warmer place. He also hoped that Wizard-Theif would be out of the room at noon so that he could transform back into a human. Another thing he was hoping for was that Wizard-Theif wouldn't use her powers. If she did there was a good chance that they wouldn't work, and she would look around for the cause of the problem.

He silently lay there as he sensed Wizard-Theif and the bellhop, Jean, carrying lots of items into the room. After they had finished moving the items into the room, Jean offered, in French, to help Wizard-Theif move the items into the closet, in French. Needless to say, Bakura was very happy when he found out that his current form understood French. Maybe the curse was really a French form of shadow magic. What Bakura wasn't happy about was how Jean stuck around after they had finished moving the boxes.

Bakura wasn't sure why but the mortal made his guardian/older brother instincts start to act up. He tried to reason with himself that the mortal was harmless. First off, the bellhop wasn't even flirting with Wizard-Theif, he was just being a gentleman. It wasn't against the law for the bellhop to offer to help a girl. Second off, even if the mortal did try to attack Wizard-Theif, she could easily send him packing. So why was Bakura feeling like he did when the idiotic incarnations of light boys were hitting on Wizard-Theif when they went to her world? Unlike this mortal they could actually cause some harm so why…?

* * *

Wizard-Theif peeked into the room to make sure that Bakura was no where in sight. She noticed that there were some lumps in his bed but nothing human size. Satisfied, she turned back to the bellhop and said in French, "Coast is clear."

Jean nodded and helped her carry in all the bags Wizard-Theif had got from the mall.

"When I first saw you, you didn't really strike me as the shopaholic type," Jean panted, also in French.

"I'm not. This is just all my present shopping for the upcoming year. I like to get it all done at once so that way I get all the deals and don't have to worry about presents unless someone gets married. Then I just get them a waffle iron."

Jean smiled and nodded. "I should start doing that. So where are you going to put all this?"

Wizard-Theif's smile faltered. "I'm not really sure… I guess the closet. I doubt Bakura would look there."

"I'll help you then," Jean said as he started moving various boxes into the closet.

Wizard-Theif started moving the boxes as well. "Thanks."

"So you know the man you are staying with?"

"Yeah," Wizard-Theif sighed. "He is a pain in the rear though. He's rooming with my brother and his brother so I guess you can say he's family. I've known him since we were little and to be honest, instead of getting mature he seems to be de-maturing."

"I could try to get you a different room," Jean offered.

She shook her head. "No thanks, if I did that then I would have to move all these presents again. Speaking of that, shouldn't you be going back down to the lobby?"

Jean smiled. "Actually my shift was over a while ago. When I saw you coming in with all those boxes I figured I should give you a hand."

Wizard-Theif grabbed her phone. "Then it's only fair I repay you with a drink. What do you want?"

The man just shook his head. "It was my honour to help such a pretty lady."

Wizard-Theif could tell that he had expected her to blush, but those teenage emotions had always been dead to her. "Thanks, and you're sure you don't want a drink?"

Jean got up. "It's alright. I better be going and remember, if that guy gives you trouble just give me a call." He scribed down his number and gave it to her before walking over to the door. "Goodnight."

Wizard-Theif just nodded and smiled. "Night."

After Jean had left Wizard-Theif crumpled up Jean's number and lay down on her bed. "_It's the light incarnations all over again… except that they were only flirting with me to try to kill me… I wonder if Jean is planning to kill me… Nah. Still the guy must have thousands of girls to choose from so why the hell me?! Ra, maybe I should have just told Jean Bakura was my boyfriend... No, that is just asking for trouble. I'll just shoot him down the next time he seems to be flirting with me. Yes. Brilliant plan… So how come I know it won't work? Damn it!_" Wizard-Theif thought as she glared at the ceiling.

* * *

When Jean left Bakura felt his guardian/older brother instincts calm. He also sensed that Wizard-Theif had fallen onto her bed with a sigh. For some reason, Bakura felt angered. "_Don't tell me she actually likes that guy,_" he thought. "_Hathor, I thought she had better taste in guys since she never seemed to be attracted to any that she met._" Slowly Bakura became aware that the temperature around him was dropping. He only wasted a second on cursing the fact that he was cold blooded and quickly tried to figure out what he could do. Before he could though, the temperature dropped too much, and he ended up falling asleep.

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was that Wizard-Theif was no longer in the hotel room and that her pet bat was crawling around on the floor. He 'watched' it for a little while before he tried to figure out what the time was. To his annoyance he realized that he couldn't read the time on the clock. When it saw that he still had lots of time before he transformed, he became annoyed. Bakura would have growled, but it came out as a soft hiss that startled the bat. He was silent as he sensed the bat look around.

When the bat figured that it was safe it started moving again. Bakura watched in amusement as the small thing tried to fly up onto the bed. After many attempts, the bat seemed to give up and just climbed up onto the bed by grabbing onto the sheets. Even then the bat had a hard time. When it finally got up onto the bed it slid under the covers and seemed to fall asleep.

Bakura almost hissed in amusement. The little thing was lucky that he had put the 'Do not disturb' sign on the door or else the maid might have attacked it. After a moment's thought Bakura realized that he would have also met a similar fate because of the form he had taken. He mentally shrugged and was about to fall asleep again when a thought hit him. If he slept through his transformation he would be in a very awkward spot. He decided to follow the bat's example by burrowing into the covers. Within seconds he was in a deep sleep and had forgotten all about his trouble for a few hours.

* * *

Wizard-Theif awoke when she felt a chill on her back. Annoyed by her return to consciousness she looked around to see what time it was. To her displeasure it was almost 6:00pm. She sighed and then looked over at her notebook that was on her night table. Today she was not going to be able to put off her punishment. Suddenly a thought hit her. She quickly grabbed her notebook and read through the details that she had written down. A grin quickly worked its way over her face. "The others said I had to go to all the spas in Paris but there is only one business that is actually a spa and not part of a hotel," Wizard-Theif muttered to herself, her joy obvious.

Her joy was short lived as she felt some unknown feeling twist in her gut. It took her a moment to recognize it as guilt. After another moment she realized why she was feeling like that. If she did something like that she would have betrayed her friends' trust. For a moment, the feeling confused her since she used loopholes all the time. After another moment she realized that when during a punishment, she never had used loopholes before. She realized that by using one she felt like she was betraying her friends. After all she did deserve it. She tried not to look over at Bakura's bed as she remembered how their friendship disappeared for 5000 years. Even though they both agreed that Wizard-Theif didn't betray him, that she was possessed when she almost killed him, she still felt guilty that she hadn't been able to regain control. Not that she would ever tell Bakura that.

With a sigh, she grabbed her house coat and put it on. She was about to go get dressed when her cell phone rang. When she answered it she was happy to hear that it was Agape calling. Unlike Mossnose and Spidey, Agape could recognize when Wizard-Theif didn't want to talk.

"Hey," Wizard-Theif said.

"How was your flight?"

"Couldn't complain since I don't remember most of it."

"Slept through it?"

"Nah, was reading. How are things at home?"

"Normal except that we miss you and Bakari misses torturing Bakura. What about you?"

"It's been… eventful."

"Can you be a bit more descriptive?"

"Well… I'm sharing a room with Bakura-"

"What?! You're sharing your room with-"

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Yes, I'm sharing a room with Bakura."

"Willingly?!"

"Hell no! His flight got messed up, and it was luck of the draw that he's rooming with me."

"Well… at least he isn't a pervert."

"Yeah. I suppose that is one of his few good qualities. Apparently he is supposed to learn French. Do you know why?"

"I think he got into a yami no game with Atemu who is working for Kaiba for his punishment. Speaking of punishment, how is yours going?"

"I was just about to leave to start it when you called. I was really tired yesterday so I wasn't able to go to any spas."

"That's good because Mossnose made a change to the punishment. She decided that it would take too long for you to go to ever spa so she made up a list of ones that you have to go to. I've already emailed it to you so you'd better get started."

"Is it okay with my boss?"

"Yeah. We checked."

"How many spas are on the list?"

"Only four."

Wizard-Theif quickly did some calculations and realized that she could be home tomorrow now that her sentence was lightened. Suddenly she got a weird feeling in her gut and the next thing she knew she was saying, "Actually Agape, I'm going to keep to my original punishment."

Agape sounded surprised. "You sure?"

Wizard-Theif nodded. "Yes. It's about time that I take responsibility for my actions."

"Okay… then… Good luck."

"Thanks, see you later Agape."

"See ya."

Wizard-Theif sighed and got back to picking her clothes. Once she had her clothes, she went to the washroom to get dressed. When she came back, she noticed that Bakura was in his bed and was awake. She thought she saw a sparkle of light where his hand was, but before she could be sure, Bakura spoke to her.

"Going out?" he asked.

Wizard-Theif nodded. "I have to go to my punishment," she explained as she put on her coats and boots.

Bakura watched her silently as she did this and didn't speak again until she had grabbed her backpack. "Good luck then."

"Thanks. Good luck to you too." The next second Wizard-Theif had closed the door. She passed Jean in the lobby and gave him a polite smile before quickly getting into a taxi. As she sat in the taxi she sighed and muttered in Egyptian, "Why me?"

* * *

Bakura had woken up when Wizard-Theif's phone had rung but he had been too brain-dead to actually understand what was said. He noticed that she seemed a bit upset though. Groggily, he watched her quickly grab some clothes and run into the washroom. While she was in there, Bakura realized that he was human. Worried that she might notice him he quickly grabbed his shirt that he had left in his bed and put it on. Once he had done that, he looked at the clock. To his annoyance he realized that it was almost 6:00pm. He had somehow managed to sleep through his transformation into a human and now he only had a few minutes before he was transformed again.

He growled at the exact moment Wizard-Theif walked into the room. She looked over at him and he unconsciously moved his right hand out of her view. Worried that she might wonder what the sparkle of light was, he asked, "Going out?"

She nodded. "I have to go to my punishment." She said as she started to put on her coat and then her boots.

He watched her silently, trying to figure out if she had noticed the sparkle or not. When she picked up her backpack, he said, without even thinking, "Good luck then."

She didn't even look at him as she replied, "Thanks. Good luck to you too." The next second she had closed the door, and he had transformed. Bakura sighed at his good luck. If Wizard-Theif had looked at him she would had seen the glowing signalling the start of the transformation. With nothing else to do, Bakura went back to sleep.

The second that he reawakened, Bakura moved closer to the night table in between the beds so that he could read the time. To his relief it was a few seconds to midnight. He prepared himself for the transformation and closed his eyes.

When he opened them next he was laying in his bed as a human. He was about to smile when he noticed his right arm. The scales had now moved all the way up to his elbow. His about-to-be smile turned into frown. He was already running low on long sleeve shirts, and he wasn't going to run around inside a heated building with a jacket on just to hide the curse. For a moment, he stared at the scales when a shine on his other arm caught his attention. Bakura looked over at his left arm to see that the scales had started to appear on that arm as well. To his annoyance the scales on his left arm had already reached his shoulder. He sighed and quickly slipped into the clothes that he had left in his bed.

Once he was dressed he looked around for his gloves and put them on. He then grabbed his wallet, put on his coat and boots, and headed out. When he saw Jean in the lobby he ignored him and walked out. After a few blocks of aimless wandering, Bakura decided that he needed a drink. He found one quickly and entered. To his relief the bars in Paris weren't all that different from London.

Unfortunately, the bartender only spoke French. Though he could understand French perfectly in his transformed state, only a small bit of the knowledge was passed over to his human form. Luckily there was a man there who spoke some English. Not a lot but enough that he could understand Bakura, and Bakura could understand him. He helped Bakura out with ordering a drink and they made light conversation. The man didn't stick around for very long, but he gave Bakura instructions on how to order another drink if he wanted one.

After the man left, Bakura found that other people in the bar were actually really friendly and willing to teach Bakura some French. Once or twice they would try to prank Bakura by telling one word meant something else but somehow Bakura knew when they were doing that without even saying the word to anyone else. He supposed it was partly because of his thief instincts and partly because the curse.

Time passed quickly and Bakura found himself running to get back to the hotel before his time ran out. He got lucky again and managed to get in before he transformed but not before he could hide his clothes. In fact, the moment that he closed the door was the moment that he transformed. He hissed in annoyance and then heard some Wizard-Theif coming up the stairs. With a quick glance at his clothing he decided that he couldn't move them and quickly slithered over to the closet to hide. Hopefully, Wizard-Theif finished shopping the day before.

* * *

**A/N: Another short chapter. Looks like I can't make up my mind. Not that it really matters. Please review before you move on to the next chapter.**

**-WT**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm writing a lot more now that my deadline is coming closer. I originally wrote this chapter at 12:12am, but then I had to write a new chapter because the plot seemed rushed to me. So that can give a good idea of how weird this plot is going to get. Happy Birthday Spidey. Also Thanks to L.A for betaing and thanks to various songs for helping me to write this chapter.**

**Warning: Some references to Yu Yu Hakusho.**

**Note: Italics equals thoughts, bold equals emphasis, and underline is a language other than English. Ok?**

_Disclaimer: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, anything that has to do with the Prodigiums, Wizard-Theif and the Dragoa Bar. The Capital Restaurant is a real place but I've never been there so my account of it is fictional and my own._

* * *

When Bakura is dragged to a play by Ryou, he quits the first chance he gets. In his mind it was smart thing to do even though he now has to go to Paris. Will a flirting Jean and the fact that he is sharing a hotel room with Wizard-Theif change his mind? Will he stop thinking it was a smart thing and start thinking it was the right thing?

* * *

Chapter 6

Are you jealous?

The first thing Wizard-Theif did when she got back to the hotel room was look at the time. She was surprised to see that it was already 6:00am and was also surprised to see a pile of Bakura's clothes right behind the door. With a sigh and a shake of her head she picked them up and threw them onto the man's bed. "_Well at least I know he was here,_" Wizard-Theif thought as she moved over to her suitcase. Within seconds she had her laptop out and was typing up her articles for the spas she had visited. She finished them quickly and sighed again. "_I had the chance to ditch this place sooner, and I go ahead and act responsible. What the hell is wrong with me?! Oh well. What's done is done, now I'll just have to live up to my word._"

At that exact moment, Bakura's cell started ringing. Wizard-Theif looked at it for second, debating whether she should answer it or not. Before she could make up her mind, her own cell started ringing. When she answered she was surprised to hear Bakari on the other end.

"Hey little sis," he said.

"Hi Bakari, what's up?" she asked.

"Nothing much. Is Bakura with you by any chance?"

"No, why?"

"Ryou was trying to call him but he didn't pick up."

"He left his cell in the room. It was just ringing."

"Can you tell him to stay in Paris for the rest of his punishment?"

"He kinda has to. The planes are all down except for the ones flying out of the country."

"Ok. I'll tell Ryou and can you tell Bakura that Ryou convinced his boss to let him stay an extra day?"

"Sure, but why did his boss let him do that?"

"Ryou explained that Bakura was away for punishment and the boss said that he might as well stay away for another day. Something about how France would be a much more horrible punishment than anything he could come up with."

"He and his boss hate each other, don't they?"

"Completely."

"Then why hasn't Bakura been fired or quit yet?"

"Probably because his boss likes torturing him too much to fire him and Bakura needs the money."

"Where does he work again?" Wizard-Theif wasn't sure why she was asking. Maybe just to make sure that Bakura wasn't involved in the darker part of society. Back in Ancient Egypt he had sworn that once they had enough gold to get out of the country and travel, he would give up thievery and get a real job. Wizard-Theif wasn't sure why he had promised that when he seemed to enjoy himself in the Egyptian Underworld, but it would be interesting to see if he kept his promise.

"He has two part time jobs. One is at the Dragoa Bar, that boss was willing to let Bakura off for about a week. The other is at some snobby restaurant, the Capital Restaurant or something, that's the boss that hates Bakura's guts. It's weird though because all the other workers do zip, and he gets heck when trouble happens, even though it's never in his section."

Wizard-Theif nodded. She had done a review on both places. The Dragoa Bar was a bit rundown, but since it was supposed to look like an old fashion bar it added to the effect. Service was fast and friendly, nothing illegal drinking wise and the pricing was fair. Wizard-Theif nodded to herself, she could see Bakura working there. The Capital Restaurant, on the other hand, was high class and as Bakari had said, 'snobby'. Service was impossible except for one section of the restaurant. Wizard-Theif's boss had told her **not** to go sit in that section so she wasn't sure who the waiter was. Secretly, Wizard-Theif had the feeling that the owner of the London Journal had it in for the Capital Restaurant but she didn't say anything.

"What section is Bakura's?" Wizard-Theif innocently asked.

"Think he said it was B1. Anyways, he is also volunteering at a pound."

Wizard-Theif frowned. That didn't sound like Bakura unless he was using it to get rid of stress.

"He says the pound works as a stress reliever, but Ryou and I know the real reason he works there."

"Care to explain?"

"It's right across from the London Journal."

Wizard-Theif knew that Bakari was grinning like mad at that moment. She sighed and then said, "Bakari, just because you knew Baraka doesn't mean you know Bakura."

"He is the reincarnation of Baraka isn't he? Wait a second, how did you know that? He's not supposed to tell you."

"Let's just say that a little birdie told me."

"Ryou?"

"Agape."

"Ah. Anyways, reincarnations aren't all that different from the originals."

"So you are saying that sweet, polite, mature Ryou is similar to annoying, rarely polite, immature Bakura?"

"He wasn't like that when he was little now was he?"

"… I just realized something. You just said that reincarnations aren't all that different from the originals right?"

It was clear from Bakari's voice that he was confused. "Yeah."

"And you seem to think that Bakura has a crush on me."

"It's fairly obvious that he does even if he doesn't know it yet. You're point?"

"Think about it slowly."

Wizard-Theif waited a second for it to click with Bakari. She smiled when it did.

"No! That is not what I mean! Baraka didn't like you like that! Hell, he was like thirteen years older than you. Ew."

"Then how can you say that Bakura has a crush on me?"

"Simple. Baraka liked you as he would a little sister. If your ages were closer then it may have gone further than that since I wasn't about to get in the way."

"And you think because Bakura is only a year older than me that it will go further?" She laughed. "You're crazy, Bakari."

"Let's have a bet then."

"Keep talking."

"I bet that when you return from the trip you'll be rooming at our house because of a fight, and within a week you and Bakura will be sleeping in the same bed at the same time."

Wizard-Theif blushed a hundred different shapes of red. "_Now I know where Agape got that thought about Prodigiums and humans from,_" she thought as she barked, "Bakari! You sicko! If I find out that you are doing that to Agape you are going to-"

"Hell no! Masika! I'm not suggesting you're going **sleep **with him! (You'll have tons of time for that when you're married.) I'm just saying sleeping same bed. You two could be snuggling and then just fall asleep! And I'm not like that with Agape! We are just dating! I'm not going to do anything to her!"

"Then stop talking about those sort of things with her!"

"I'm not!"

"Then why is she asking questions about Prodigiums and humans?!"

"Hell if I know! Maybe she was asking for your benefit since you never think about that sort of stuff. I'd hate to break it to you Agape isn't the same little girl you and Bakura knew back in that orphanage in Egypt. She's grown up just like you should have."

"Grown up or not, she shouldn't be thinking like that!"

"Masika," Wizard-Theif could tell Bakari was calmed down but was getting seriously annoyed with her attitude, "this is not 3000b.c; this is the twenty-first century. So are you going to bet or not?"

"The stakes?"

"You lose, you have to admit to Bakura what you really think of him within a month of the lost. I lose, and I'll get you a new car."

"I don't need a new car. Mine works just fine!"

"Once again, you need to get with the times. Your Stingray is ancient!"

"I don't want a new car! And it's a 1991 Chevrolet Stingray III. That's not all that old!"

Bakari sighed. It was obvious that he was rolling his eyes. "Fine. I'll never ever imply or say that you or Bakura have an interest in one another, if I lose."

Wizard-Theif nodded. "Deal… Bakari?"

"Yeah?"

"How did we get from you telling me to pass a message on to Bakura to a bet?"

Bakari was silent for a second and then said, "I have no idea. Speaking of that message, Spidey had one for you. She wants you to come home on the same plane as Bakura. Once you are done with the spas, you've done your punishment, so you can go to war museums if you want."

"Okay. Thanks. I'll see you in…?"

"Uh… two days?"

"Sure. Two day then."

"See ya little sis, and do me a favour?"

Wizard-Theif sighed. "What is it?"

"Annoy Bakura for me, ok?"

A grin worked over her face. "Need you ask?"

"See ya later."

"See you."

Wizard-Theif hung up her phone and remembered that she needed some violence ASAP. After all that peace and junk from the spas, her mind was turning to mush. On the plus side, she now knew why Spidey acted the way she did. Moving quickly, she grabbed her Yu Yu Hakusho Volume Seven manga. Where else could one find such a perfect mix of humour, drama, senseless violence, politics, good guy vs. bad guy, and witty banter? (No, Spider-girl comics don't count.) She was only a few pages into the manga when the phone that the hotel provided started ringing. With a sigh she picked up.

"Hello?"

The voice replied in French. "Hi, it's Jean."

"_Oh yeah, he doesn't know my name,_" Wizard-Theif remembered as she replied in French, "Oh… Hey Jean… Is there a reason why you called so early in the morning?"

"I think I forgot my backpack over there. I need it for today so do you mind if I come and get it?"

"Nah, it's ok. Bakura is out so he can't really complain. See ya in a few minutes."

"See you then."

Wizard-Theif sighed as she lay back onto the bed. "_Well, at least he is just grabbing his pack and leaving. Maybe I can lie and say I have a boyfriend already really subtly. That would solve the problem real fast… Nah, can't do that. He might not even care. Boys are so weird… Maybe I could ask Bakura for help. He's an immature, dense man. He would know what to do… Nah, my pride won't let me do that. So what's my battle plan?_"

She was knocked out of her thoughts by a soft banging on the door. "_That was fast,_" she thought suspiciously as she walked over to open the door.

* * *

"_Ugh… what's that banging?_" Bakura thought as he slowly looked around the closet. He slithered over to the door and peeked out. He sensed more than saw Wizard-Theif open the door to let in Jean. The mortal entered the room and looked around. He muttered something about the backpack being in the closet and Wizard-Theif jumped to look for it. At once Bakura felt anger towards the mortal for reasons unknown to him. Bakura didn't have time to figure those reasons out because he had to move away from the door or else Wizard-Theif would see him.

When she opened the door, he slithered around behind her and ducked under the bed. There he had a somewhat perfect view of everything that was going on in the room. He watched as Jean moved over to the phone and unplugged it. Bakura couldn't figure why the mortal had done that until he bolted the door shut. At once Bakura felt the need to rush over and bite the mortal, but he wasn't sure if his bite was poisonous in his transformed state or not. He forced himself not to move and watched as the mortal moved over to where Wizard-Theif was.

"Is this it?" Wizard-Theif asked as she held up a black backpack.

Jean smiled at her and Bakura wished he was human so that he could punch him. There was just something about how the mortal looked at Wizard-Theif that made Bakura want to kill him. It took Bakura a second to realize why he was feeling like that. "_The mortal was looking at Masika lustfully! He is so lucky that I'm not human right now and can't show myself to Masika but the moment I can bite you without her seeing I am so doing it!_" Bakura had to stop himself from hissing at the mortal.

"Yeah, that's it," Jean replied. "You know… you're very pretty."

Slowly Bakura realized that his protective feelings had strengthened. As he watched the conversation between Wizard-Theif and Jean he tried to figure out why.

Wizard-Theif had just politely smiled at Jean's compliment. "Thank you. So are you going to be leaving now?"

Jean shook his head as he sat down on Bakura's bed. "I was hoping we could talk."

"Uh… sure," Wizard-Theif said as she sat down on her bed.

Bakura didn't like where this was going one bit. If Wizard-Theif wanted to get all personal with some French guy she could at least do it at a café or something in the middle of the day, not the middle of the night! While Wizard-Theif and Jean talked, Bakura noticed that Wizard-Theif hadn't used her cursed tone on the mortal. This confused him since Wizard-Theif always used the high pitched, falsely sweet, and slightly fan-girlish voice to curse people when they started getting personal with her. She always reasoned that since she had that power because she was a Prodigium, she should be allowed to use it to get rid of possible stalkers.

Bakura tried to figure out why she hadn't used her cursed tone yet, until he decided Wizard-Theif was just trying to show him that she didn't use her powers on purpose. Then he remembered that Wizard-Theif didn't know that he was even in the room. He changed his reasoning to the fact that she didn't need magic to get rid of the bellhop. She was way more powerful than the bellhop without any sort of special ability.

When the conversation continued for more than ten minutes Bakura began confused. He didn't understand why Wizard-Theif didn't kick Jean out or use the cursed tone on him while kicking him out. Was giving a guy bad luck by talking to him in a special super sweet tone so wrong if you really wanted to get rid of him? Suddenly Bakura was hit with a scary thought, what if Wizard-Theif **didn't** want to get rid of Jean?!

Bakura almost hissed again. He'd put a stop to any feelings she might have for Jean as soon as he was human again. The girl deserved to know that the guy only liked her for her figure. Bakura realized that if he told her that she would know he was in the room while they were talking. That put a huge hole in his plans, but he was Bakura. He'd figure out a way.

Finally they stopped talking, and Wizard-Theif handed Jean his backpack. She then moved towards the door and Jean followed. Bakura felt rage building again when he noticed how close Jean was to Wizard-Theif. Wizard-Theif didn't notice though because she was looking at the door that Jean had locked. Bakura heard her mutter in English, "I could have sworn that the door was unlocked."

Suddenly Bakura understood why his protective feelings were stronger. He slapped his face with his tail. "_I'm such an idiot! I totally forgot that she is weaker now because I'm a cobra and in the same room as her. Baka! Baka! Baka! Right now that mortal could cause some real damage! AH! What kind of guardian am I? If I don't do something Bakari is going to kill me._" But Bakura couldn't do anything. If he showed himself, Wizard-Theif would go ballistic. He almost hissed again but just barely managed to stop himself. With an enormous effort, Bakura tried to calm himself so that he could think up a plan.

Before he could come up with a plan both Wizard-Theif and he were paralyzed. Wizard-Theif was paralyzed in fear and surprise while Bakura was paralyzed by his rage. Jean had just pulled a knife from his bag and put it to Wizard-Theif throat. "_She must know that is she vulnerable or else she wouldn't be this worried,_" Bakura thought as he watched. "_That bastard is going to pay._"

* * *

For a moment, Wizard-Theif thought she was dreaming, but then Jean moved his free arm around her waist. At once she wished she could still merge but the bat curse was somehow making her as weak as a normal human. She was willing to bet that she couldn't even use her cursed tone to curse the mortal. Fear was running through her blood as she tried to think up a plan but she couldn't do anything with the knife that close to her throat.

"You're very pretty, you know?" Jean whispered into her ear as he pulled her closer to him.

At that moment, Wizard-Theif wanted nothing more than to throw up. She desperately hoped that Bakura would walk into the room, but somehow she knew that he wasn't coming. She was completely on her own. Wizard-Theif tried to keep calm and not show how frightened she was. "What do you want?" she forced herself to ask in French.

"I think it is obvious." His free hand had moved from her waist to play with her hair. "I want you."

"You sicko! You're just as bad as Karasu!" Wizard-Theif didn't care if she what she said may have gotten her killed. It was true. Suddenly she had an idea. If she bit him or kicked him in that 'special' spot, the pain would make him drop the knife.

Jean didn't seem to mind her comment. "I'm glad to see that you have spirit. This would be no fun if you were shy."

She was about to kick him when she felt the knife against her throat again. Suddenly the knife was gone and she was pushed back onto Bakura's bed. To her horror, Jean was on top of her. At once, she saw what Jean was going to do and was about to jump off the bed when Jean put the knife to her throat again.

"Don't worry. I'll be gentle," he said. "And who knows, I might not kill you when I'm-" Jean finished his sentence with a howl off pain and looked behind him. He swore and then threw his knife at whatever had hurt him. He must have missed because the next second he and Wizard-Theif had fallen off the bed.

While Jean was trying to kill whatever had hurt him, Wizard-Theif looked around the room for some sort of weapons. Even with her powers gone she could tell this wasn't an ordinary human. Her eyes fell on the vase of flowers on the middle night table. Suddenly Jean cried out in pain again. Wizard-Theif looked over to see the bellhop frantically shaking his hand around. She noticed that something had bit him on that hand and was holding on but she couldn't see what that something was. Suddenly the something released its hold and went flying against a wall.

Jean turned towards Wizard-Theif who quickly got up. He tried to stab her, but she pushed herself out of the way. The quick move confused Jean so Wizard-Theif used it to her advantage. She purposely moved over to where the vase of flowers were even though she knew that if her plan didn't work that she would be trapped.

Jean looked at her and noticed her manga and the flowers behind her. He started walking over to her. "Going to make a rose whip are you?"

Wizard-Theif didn't say anything because before she could, Jean was howling in pain again and cursing down at his foot. With only seconds to act Wizard-Theif grabbed the vase and knocked Jean over the head with it. Jean fell to the ground, hard, but he wasn't knocked out like Wizard-Theif had hoped. He surprised her again though, instead of trying to attack her again, Jean walked over to the door. He opened it, turned around and then said, "I will get you." The next second he disappeared behind the closed door.

Wizard-Theif stared at the door for a second before sinking down to the floor. Why did she always get the psycho ones? First Zorc, then Jean. Who was next? Yami Marik!?

For a moment, she thought about calling the French police but decided against it. The last thing she wanted to do was get caught up with the police. It wasn't that she didn't like the police, it was just that if she told them about the assault she would have to stay in France longer. Then the girls in England would want to know why. That would lead to her telling the girls what happened and then the girls would try to track down Jean and probably get themselves killed. Even if they didn't die, Wizard-Theif probably would because they would interrogate the hell out of her and then lock her in her own room due to their paranoia.

Thinking of Jean, Wizard-Theif still didn't know what had hurt Jean so badly but she owed it big time. "_Well… when Agape calls again I'll sure have a story to tell her. At least it's over,_" Wizard-Theif thought as she looked around. She was feeling calm and peaceful again until she heard a small hiss. At once she stiffened. "_Please oh please let that not be what I think it is,_" she thought as she looked over to the wall near the bathroom. There, laying on the ground, staring at her, was a small white cobra. Wizard-Theif gulped. "_Why Bakura? Why did you have to bring a cobra? Why not a dog or some other kind of snake? Why a cobra?!_" Trying to keep her voice level Wizard-Theif managed to say in English, "Thanks… for biting him."

The snake nodded as if to say, 'You're welcome' but its glare said, 'You owe me big time.' Then it disappeared into the bathroom.

"_Mental note, avoid bathroom at all costs. I think I'll just close the door so that it doesn't slither around the whole room._" Wizard-Theif thought as she silently moved to the bathroom. She quickly closed the door and then looked over at the clock. 8:28am, brilliant, in a few seconds she was going to be a bat again. With a sigh, she lay down in her bed. If she was going to transform she might as well be in bed while she was at it. Within seconds she was asleep and within minutes she was a bat again.

* * *

When Bakura had transformed back into a human at noon, he was not impressed. When he had bit Jean the first time the mortal had kicked Bakura off, and he had hit his head. The second time he had been thrown right against the wall and then slid down to the floor. He also had cuts from some close calls with the knife. With a sigh he decided to take a shower, treat his injures and then get dressed. After his shower, he wrapped a towel around himself and started looking for some bandages. While he was looking, he thought about what excuse to use to explain his injures if Wizard-Theif asked. When he found the bandages he had decided that he would say he got into a bar fight. He smiled. She would believe that for sure.

While he was treating his injures he looked at the scales on his arms. The right arm had caught up to the left arm and now not only were his arms covered in scales so was a bit of his chest. He sighed and then went to get himself some clothes from his suitcase. While getting his clothes he noticed that Wizard-Theif's bat was back and was sleeping in her bed. A small smile crossed his face when he saw it. "_It really is sorta cute. I wish Masika wasn't so afraid of cobras though. Oh well. At least she didn't find out about my curse._"

Bakura got changed and then decided he might as well follow Wizard-Theif's example and get his Christmas shopping done. Unlike her through, once he had bought an item he had it gift wrapped and then mailed the gift to the house where the receiver lived. It was the first time he had ever done anything like this and the people at the stores were wonderfully helpful. He ended up staying there until around five. He grabbed a bite to eat and then ran back to the hotel.

When he got there Wizard-Theif and her bat were nowhere in sight. Bakura assumed that Wizard-Theif was out at the spas and her bat was out hunting. He sighed and then got into his bed. At once he was asleep since shopping had really tired him out. When he woke up again it was pass midnight so he was human.

At that point Bakura decided to go to the bar again. He figured that he deserved a drink after that fight. When he got there he ordered his drink with hardly any trouble. He was happy to see that some more knowledge of French had been transferred from his cobra form to his human one. "_At least this transforming has one good thing about it,_" he thought as he sipped his drink. His friend from the night before was there, and they talked a bit before the man had to leave.

After the man left Bakura found himself roped into a drinking contest which he won easily due to the fact that most of the other competitors were already drunk. Bakura ended up sticking around a little longer than he had planned since some of the men had started to test him on his French. They made a game out of it, and by the time Bakura realized what time it was, it was almost 6:00am.

He realized that he didn't have enough time to run back to the hotel so he went to the washroom. Not the first place he would like to transform but he didn't have any other choices. Before he entered the washrooms he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper. Once in the washroom, he wrote up a French 'out of order' sign waited until the washroom was empty before putting it on one of the stalls. He looked at his watch, 5:48am, not much time left.

Before he could enter the stall another man entered the washroom. Bakura almost frowned but instead entered another stall. As soon as the other man left Bakura quickly moved into the stall he marked out of order. He quickly stripped off his clothes because it would look weird if there was a pile of clothes randomly in a stall. When he removed his watch to hide it with his clothes behind the toilet, he noticed it was 5:59am. He gave a sigh of relief. He made it. The next second, he transformed and the smells of the washroom hit him like a brick wall. He held his breath and quickly buried into his clothes that were hidden.

When his own scent hit his nose Bakura left out a sigh of relief. At least his clothing was blocking out the other scents. He just hoped that the bar would be open when he transformed back into a human. If it wasn't he could just break out, but he preferred being able to walk out of a bar without having to do anything illegal. With such comforting thoughts in his mind he rested in his makeshift burrow and listened to the sound of drunken Frenchmen talking.

He awoke to the sound of swearing in French and looked over at his watch which was beside him. To his delight it was 11:58am. He quickly slithered out of his makeshift burrow and held his breath as he waited to transform back. Within seconds he had transformed back into his human state and quickly clothed himself. He left the bar without any trouble and made his way to the hotel.

When he got to the room, he saw Wizard-Theif's bat was about to take a nose dive so he rushed over and caught it. He sighed in relief when he did. "You're just a ball of trouble, aren't you?" he asked it.

The bat glared at him and then looked away while it made squeaking noises. If Bakura didn't know any better he could have sworn that the bat was swearing at him. He shook his head and put the bat on the bed. The bat didn't want to stay there though and started crawling towards the middle night table.

"I guess you can't fly yet, can you?" Bakura asked it.

The bat seemed to glare at him again before trying to make its way over to the night table. Bakura sighed and picked the bat up. It started squeaking as if telling him to put it down. "If you bite me I will drop you, and it will hurt."

The bat appeared to be giving him a mix of Wizard-Theif's 'I didn't even think of that' face and her 'you suck' face. Bakura had to stop himself from laughing.

"You're so much like her it's scary," he said as he put the bat down.

The bat seemed to ignore him and appeared to start chewing on a piece of paper. Bakura saw Wizard-Theif's hand-writing on it and quickly pulled it out of the bat's reach. If the bat ate her article, she would give Bakura heck. He then noticed that it had his name on it. After a quick look at the bat who was giving him 'read it already' face, he did as the bat 'told' him to.

The note explained that Wizard-Theif and he would be leaving to head home on the 3:00am flight on December 7th. Bakura realized that December 7th was today. He had been in Paris for four days and hadn't even realized it. He continued reading and saw that Wizard-Theif said that she would be back at the hotel room by 1:00am. Then they could go to the airport together so that neither of them missed the flight. Bakura nodded to himself. That made sense.

With nothing else to do Bakura lay down on his bed and turned on the TV. He was amazed when he could follow everything perfectly. A grin quickly appeared on his face. He had managed to learn French! The only problem he had now was convincing Ryou that he didn't use magic but his own free will. Maybe he could ask Wizard-Theif to say that she helped him. In a way she did since he learned most of his French from when she was talking to Jean.

After a few minutes of watching the French dub of Fruits Basket, Bakura turned off the TV and decided he might as well take a shower. After all, he did spend a night in a washroom of a bar. He was about to leave the room when he looked back at the bat. What were the chances of the bat getting into huge trouble while he was gone? Bakura thought for a second and decided that he should keep an eye on the bat at least until Wizard-Theif came back or half an hour before he would transform.

By 4:50pm Bakura couldn't take anymore French television. He decided that he would take his shower now and let the bat take its chances. The bat didn't seem to mind the fact that Bakura was ditching it. In fact it seemed almost happy. Before he disappeared into the washroom it turned the TV back on by stepping on the power button on the remote. Bakura just shook his head and went to take his shower. He ended up transforming into a snake while he was in the bathroom because his hair was refusing to dry, and he didn't like wet clothes.

When he finally was human again and dressed, he exited the bathroom to see Wizard-Theif sitting on her bed watching TV.

"Hey," she said in French when she noticed him.

"All that French dub anime has gone to your head," Bakura replied, also in French.

Wizard-Theif just shrugged and Bakura waited for her to realize that he had used French.

When she did, she looked at him in disbelief. "Did you just speak French?"

Bakura grinned and replied again in French. "Does this answer your question?"

"Oh Thoth…" Her surprise changed to curiosity. "How?"

Bakura shrugged and spoke in English. "Some guys down at the bar taught me."

"In four days?" Wizard-Theif looked at him not in skepticism but in wonder. "Wow. Just wait until the guys see."

Bakura grinned. "Now I can swear at Bakari, and he'll have no idea what I'm saying."

Wizard-Theif grinned too. "Welcome to the joys of knowing a language that only a few people in our group knows."

He frowned. "Who else knows French?"

"Spidey, Agape, and Bakari."

"Bakari knows French?"

"He met Agape in France when they were both living there, didn't he?"

Bakura sighed. "I guess that is why you never swear in it."

Wizard-Theif nodded. "Yeah… so now what are we going to do for an hour and a half?"

"War museum?"

She shook her head. "Can't."

"Punishment?"

"Sorta."

"That sucks."

She shrugged. "It could always be worse. It could have been kiss a guy **and** go to all the spas."

Bakura made a face causing Wizard-Theif to laugh. "Ick. I'm glad that Ryou took pity on me."

Wizard-Theif gave him a doubtful look. "He threatened you with a different punishment?"

He nodded. "He said that Spidey needed a new punishment for you and said he was going to suggest that she force us to go out on a date."

Wizard-Theif shook her head. "They never learn do they?"

"I doubt it. So what have you been up to since Kaiba's party?"

"Work, annoying Mossnose, more work, sleeping, eating, talking to people, a bit more of work, and uh… work."

"You work too much. If you keep that up you'll turn into Kaiba."

"That's a scary thought. What about you?"

"Same."

"What time is it now?"

"Still not time to go."

"Damn it."

Bakura went over to his suitcase and pulled out a pack of regular playing cards. "Wanna play War?"

Wizard-Theif nodded and they started playing. After War they played a couple of other card games until it was time to move out. As they waited in the airport, Bakura was amazed that they managed to talk and play together so long without fighting. He had to admit that always fighting with Wizard-Theif was annoying. Even when they were kids and they fought they made up fast but now that they were adults they rarely finished a conversation without it ending in a fight. He was glad to have a change for once and hoped that it would last, but as they got onto the plane he had the gut feeling that it wouldn't.

* * *

**A/N: The chapters are smaller then longer and then smaller and then longer. I wonder why… Anyways, does this seem rushed to you? I mean the story and the relationship? I hope not because that would suck. Please review before you move on to the next chapter. And thanks for reading!**

**-WT**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Can't think of anything to say except for the fact that my deadline is coming up really fast. Only a day left until my imaginary deadline and I'm barely at half. I might have to rush this story just to make sure that it isn't a month late. Also this is what I was writing instead of TAT, even though you kept nagging me. Tell me, which would you have preferred? A new story just for you with the pairing you like, or a new chapter of TAT?**

_Disclaimer: Oh Ra, this is getting long so I'll add to the list of what I don't own rather than restating everything. I don't own Vingt-Quatre. It is a real restaurant in London, England. I did NOT make up the menu so don't ask me why a restaurant with a French name has an American breakfast because I don't know. I did not make up anything about the restaurant. All the information about the restaurant came from their own website and various reviews about it. That is all I have to add to the list of stuff I don't own._

* * *

"I bet that when you return from the trip you'll be rooming at our house because of a fight, and within a week you and Bakura will be in the same bed." WT thought there was no way that Bakari could win, but she didn't think she'd get into a fight with her friends either. Could Bakari win?

* * *

Chapter 7

This day just gets better and better, doesn't it?

To Bakura's annoyance, he was correct about his and Wizard-Theif's temporary truce. As soon as Wizard-Theif and he got off the plane, it was only minutes before they got into a fight.

"Do you see the gang?" Wizard-Theif asked as she looked around.

"They didn't tell you where to meet them?" Bakura asked.

"They told me that they would meet us as soon as we got off the plane. Where the hell are they?" Wizard-Theif said angrily. "I hate this, the cops are staring at us like we're about to set off a bomb," she muttered as she glared at the police on site.

"You have to admit, we do look odd," Bakura muttered back. "Two people with appearingly dyed hair and heavy suitcases waiting around with nothing to do. One is glaring at the cops as if she wants to kill them with a cord hanging out of her carry-on."

"It's for my camera!"

Bakura sighed and looked around for the gang again. "They're just doing their jobs."

Wizard-Theif pouted and crossed her arms. "Stupid terrorists making everyone paranoid. Ra, I miss Ancient Egypt."

"Ancient Egypt didn't have planes, TVs, Internet, rights for women, health care-"

Wizard-Theif cut him off. "It was still better than here, and women had rights if you knew where to look."

Bakura gave her a look. "The thief underground?"

She glared at him. "So, Ancient Egypt had some problems, what country doesn't?"

Bakura grinned. "The Country of the Prodigiums?"

Her glare hardened. "Ha. Ha. Very funny, Bakura." Without waiting for Bakura to make a comment she turned around and started to walk outside. "Come on, let's look for the gang outside."

Since she was in a bad mood, and he didn't want to get another punishment for using shadow magic, Bakura followed Wizard-Theif outside. Almost as soon as they had walked out the door, Wizard-Theif was knocked backwards. Bakura was about to attack the thing that had pounced on her when he noticed a flash of brown hair that had been dyed red. He stopped in mid-attack and watched as Wizard-Theif slowly turned blue from lack of oxygen.

"Wizzie!" Spidey yelled as she squeezed Wizard-Theif tighter.

"You are so lucky that the cops are here," Wizard-Theif muttered, wasting what little oxygen she had. "And if you call me that horrid nickname ever again, I will kill you."

"Sure you will… Wizzie," Spidey replied with another squeeze.

Wizard-Theif was about to kill the woman when Agape, Bakari, Mossnose, and Ryou arrived at the scene. When Bakari removed Spidey's death grip on Wizard-Theif, the younger Prodigium gave him a grateful look. Once Wizard-Theif's breathing returned to normal, she glared daggers at Bakura.

"You just love to see me suffer," she said.

Bakura shook his head. "It's only fun to watch if I'm the cause. The rest of the time it's boring."

Wizard-Theif ignored him and turned to the girls. "Where's the chibis?"

Spidey grinned. "I left them at home with Malik."

"So how were the war museums?" Agape asked. "Did you get any pictures?"

Wizard-Theif looked at Agape, confused. "_Did she forget about how I was doing my original second punishment?_" Wizard-Theif thought as she replied, "I didn't go see any. I was busy."

"Busy doing what? You only had to go to four spas," Mossnose pointed out.

Spidey's eyes suddenly started sparkling. "Did you and Bakura go on lots of dates then?"

Wizard-Theif felt her own eyes widened. "Hell no!"

The girls started to drag her to the van.

"You can tell us all about it when we get to the restaurant," Spidey told her.

"Restaurant? Why are we going to a restaurant?"

All three of the younger girls grinned. "You're hungry, aren't you?" they said.

Wizard-Theif shook her head as she put her luggage in the van. "Not really."

"Oh well, the rest of us are. The guys are going to meet us at the restaurant as soon as we drop off your luggage," Mossnose said.

Unsure what to do, Wizard-Theif nodded.

* * *

"So how was Paris, Bakura?" Bakari asked as he leaned on the younger man.

Bakura grinned and started speaking French. "It was quiet."

Bakari looked at him and then turned to Ryou. "Do you know what he just said?"

Ryou shrugged his shoulders while Bakura's grin grew.

"Kinda stupid to make me learn a language that you don't know, isn't it Ryou?"

"Actually it was my idea," Bakari muttered.

"He seems to be speaking French," Ryou said. "I'm impressed Onii-chan. I just hope that is really what you learned because after we drop off your luggage we are going to a restaurant. As soon as you enter, you can only speak French and remember Spidey, Agape, and Wizard-Theif all know French."

Bakura's grin didn't falter. "Sounds like fun," he said in English. "_And I'm not your older brother… Oh well. At least I'll be able to call Ryou all kinds of things from now on without him knowing… Unless Bakari tells him… wait! Ryou doesn't know that Bakari speaks French so Bakari can't tell him… I wonder…_" A grin worked its way over his face as he followed the other men to their car.

It only took a second to drop off Bakura's luggage since the men just left it at the door. Then they all got into Ryou's car and headed to the restaurant. On the way over, the men talked about Paris. Bakura told them everything excluding the events that happened when he was a snake. He also avoided telling them about Jean.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Bakura wasn't surprised to see that it was Vingt-Quatre, one of the gang's favourite places to eat. Before they entered, he quietly asked, "So who is going to remain sober so that we can drive home?"

Ryou gave him a look but sighed and said, "I will. Besides, it's probably the only time I'll be able to drive my car."

"Since when do you drive?" Bakari asked as he looked around to see if the girls had arrived before them.

Ryou sighed. "Since I turned eighteen a few years ago. You just won't let me near any of the cars."

"Yeah, because you might total them."

Ryou frowned as they entered the restaurant. "Unlike you two, I don't race the cops."

Bakura was about to point out that he had never gotten caught speeding when he remembered he had to speak French, and Ryou wouldn't be able to understand. So instead, he remained silent and glared at his reincarnation.

Bakari was also silent, but that was because he couldn't think up a comeback. After a moment, he again asked the question that started the whole conversation. "So who's driving?"

Ryou shook his head. "I said I would. Just don't get into a drinking contest."

Bakari gave him a smile. "Of course not." But as soon as Ryou was talking to the waiter, he muttered, "At least, not a big drinking contest."

Bakura just shook his head and wondered how he was going to place his order. He doubted that the waiters knew French but then again the place was called 'vingt-quatre', which was French for twenty-four. Maybe he could just point at the menu. He smiled when he solved his problem and then sat waiting for the rest of the group to show up. The men were only waiting a few minutes when the girls entered the restaurant. Bakari waved to Agape, and she led the group over. Bakura noticed that Mossnose and Spidey were trying hard not to laugh. When Ryou started quietly snickering, Bakura became confused. How could Agape leading the group over to their table be so funny? Then he saw the real reason why everyone was trying not to laugh. He stared, eyes as wide as a dinner plate.

* * *

"_Good, old, somewhat pricey Vingt-Quatre,_" Wizard-Theif thought as she followed Agape to where the men were sitting. As she walked by the tables that lined the walls, she was aware of the many males turned and seemed look at her. She glared at them. "_Bastards,_" she thought as she subconsciously pulled her jacket closer to her body. A small cough from Spidey reminded her of her promise, and Wizard-Theif slowly removed her hands from her jacket.

"Wizard-Theif," Mossnose said as they neared the table with the guys. "Try not to kill anyone."

She tried to give Mossnose a smile, and Wizard-Theif was sure that Mossnose saw through it. "Okay, I'll try," Wizard-Theif said as she stopped walking for a second. For a moment, she mentally prepared herself for the comments Bakari would make and was thankful that Kaiba or Atemu wasn't with them. After taking a deep breath, she walked into the guys' line of vision. She noticed Bakari quietly snickering, and Bakura staring at her. Aiming a glare at the other girls, Wizard-Theif sat down in the only chair left which was right across from Bakura and beside Agape.

"So, Masika… trying a new look?" Bakari asked between his snickers.

She glared at him and said, "If you must know, this is the last part of my punishment."

"Wearing a belly top is not punishment, Wizzie," Spidey said. When she said Wizard-Theif's annoying nickname, Spidey quickly moved a little bit farther away from the angered Prodigium.

Wizard-Theif took a deep breath and tried not to make a fist with her hands. "One, it's not just a belly top! Two, it's pink. And three, it's a Ra-damned scope neck too!"

"It looks good on you."

"It shows off my chest!"

"It's classy."

"It has lace on it!"

Spidey shook her head. "I said it was classy, didn't I? Besides, it's about time you wore something that had lace on it."

"I wore something with lace at your wedding, didn't I?!"

Mossnose coughed. "You wore a tux while the rest of us wore classy scope necks."

Wizard-Theif glared at the cat demon. "Unlike you ladies, I'm modest and have shame, and it doesn't show off just a little! Guys are staring at me probably thinking I'm a hooker!"

Spidey sighed. "You don't look like a hooker."

Wizard-Theif paused in mid comeback. She thought for a moment and then said with a passive face, "You know… You're right."

Spidey smiled, but it quickly turned into a frown when she heard Wizard-Theif's next sentence.

"Even hookers don't show this much skin!" Wizard-Theif shouted in outrage.

Mossnose rolled her eyes. "Wizard-Theif, the men were just looking at the food that was coming to their table."

"So stop being a baby," Spidey added.

"Who's being a baby!? It shows off way more chest and skin than I want to show off!" Again Wizard-Theif's arms went for her jacket, but when the other girls glared at her, she remembered her promise and put her arms down again without touching the jacket.

Agape shook her head and then said, "She," Agape pointed to Spidey, "tried to get her to take off her jacket when we entered the restaurant, but Mossnose and I stopped her."

Bakari nodded and said, "I'm glad someone stopped the make-over attack before it got serious."

Spidey stopped in mid-fight with Wizard-Theif and frowned. "What's wrong with trying out a new look?"

"Nothing is wrong when wings are part of the look but if they aren't well…" Bakari trailed off when he realized what he had just said. "_Oops._"

Spidey stared at him in confusion. "Wings? What do wings have to do with this?"

Wizard-Theif looked at Mossnose and Agape. "You didn't tell her?"

Both girls gave Wizard-Theif a look of disbelief. "You made us promise remember?"

Wizard-Theif nodded. "About that other thing yes, but you could have told her about the wings."

"Mossnose knows?" Ryou and Bakari asked.

Wizard-Theif looked passive again as she said, "She forced it out of me," as she leaned back in her chair, subconsciously covering her chest with her arms.

"What are you guys talking about?!" Spidey demanded angrily.

The others who were talking looked at Spidey to see that she was very annoyed. She must have asked them the same question many times, and they only heard her just then.

Wizard-Theif sighed and whispered in Spidey's ear. She repeated everything she told Agape and Mossnose except for the dream and the thing about Prodigiums having kids with humans. When she had finished, Spidey yelled to kingdom come about how Wizard-Theif didn't tell her. She didn't quiet down until the waiter came to get their orders.

Spidey and Mossnose ordered a slice of the warm chocolate brownie with fresh whipped cream, roasted walnuts &amp; hot fudge sauce. Agape and Bakari got the VQ salad which was composed of mixed greens, baby beetroot, aged feta, butternut squash, honey roasted pine nuts &amp; dijon vinaigrette. Ryou only ordered juice while Bakura and Wizard-Theif got the 'American Breakfast' that was served all day long, which consisted of buttermilk pancakes served with warm maple syrup, mixed berries and crispy bacon. To Ryou's surprise, Bakari and Bakura didn't get any sort of alcoholic drinks, and he noticed that Bakura was being a lot quieter than usual.

After the waiter left, the group made small talk. Wizard-Theif and Bakura were asked about their trip, but only Wizard-Theif answered. Bakura did nothing but shrug his shoulders.

"Are you okay Onii-chan?" Ryou finally asked.

Bakura nodded and then went back to staring at the tablecloth. This proved to be a mistake because he failed to see an evil grin appear on Bakari's face.

"He's okay Ryou," Bakari said slyly. "He's just suffering from a bit of shell-shock."

"Shell-shock?" repeated the confused reincarnation.

Bakari nodded. "Yes, shell-shock."

The girls and Ryou frowned.

"Bakari, you can only get shell-shock during a battle with heavy artillery," Wizard-Theif said.

Her brother frowned and then looked passive. "Ok, so it's not shell-shock, but it is a form of shock."

Wizard-Theif and Ryou looked at Bakari confused while Agape, Mossnose and Spidey suddenly grinned.

Bakari started to grin uncontrollably as he slowly and deliberately said, "He's love-shocked because he saw a certain someone in a scope neck and belly top. I'm surprised he didn't get a bloody nose."

Bakura's head instantly shot up. He glared at Bakari as he said, "I am not!"

"Nice to see that you admit it Bakura," Bakari said, purposely misinterpreting what Bakura said. He nudged Ryou. "Look, he's blushing again."

Wizard-Theif also glared at her childish older brother. "He said, 'I am not'."

"Denial!" the girls screamed.

"You're the ones in denial," Wizard-Theif and Bakura said in a mixture of English and French.

Ryou looked from Bakura and Wizard-Theif to Bakari, Agape, Mossnose, and Spidey, wondering who was going to speak next when he noticed the waiter out of the corner of his eye. Without waiting to see the outcome of the fight he said, "Here comes the food."

Things calmed down a bit while they ate their food until Spidey asked about the trip. Bakura repeated to the girls what he had said to Bakari and Ryou while Wizard-Theif translated for Mossnose who didn't understand French. When he had finished, Bakari asked Mossnose a question.

"Mossnose, you've travelled around with Masika for a while, right?"

The cat-demon nodded.

"How come you don't know any French?"

Mossnose looked surprised and thought for a moment. "I don't really know. Wizard-Theif did all the talking when we visited France. I guess I never really thought about learning it."

"Well, we know how to punish her if she breaks any of the rules," Bakura muttered in French.

"Mossnose can't use shadow magic, Bakura," Wizard-Theif muttered back in English.

Before Bakura could retaliate Spidey had asked Wizard-Theif about her trip.

"It was okay," she said with an added mental note of, "_If you don't count being cursed, Zorc showing up, sharing a room with Bakura, Jean, and my stupid conscious not leaving me alone._"

"Did you enjoy yourself?"

"I didn't die," Wizard-Theif said as she added a mental note of, "_And I survived a bellhop trying to rape me._"

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Spidey looked ready to faint. "You enjoyed going to the spas!?"

Wizard-Theif paled at the thought. "Hell no!"

"But then how did you enjoy yourself… unless you didn't do the punishment."

"I did the punishment and more!"

"What do you mean by and more?" Mossnose asked.

"I was stuck sharing a room with him!" Wizard-Theif pointed at Bakura as her face grew red from anger.

Bakari watched the fight with interest as Agape said, "So you went to war museums then."

Wizard-Theif shook her head fiercely. "No I didn't. I ended up going to all the spas in Paris and not going to any war museums, just like my original second punishment, just like what I told Agape I was going to do."

Agape looked at Wizard-Theif with wide eyes. "You were serious!? No way! There is no way you could have been serious about that."

Wizard-Theif glared at the girl. "Of course I was serious."

"But you would never do anything like that even if your life depended on it," Mossnose said horrified.

"But I did."

The other girls were silent and then Spidey started laughing. Soon the other girls joined in.

"You- you had us going there," Spidey said through her laughs.

Mossnose gasped for air. "You… in a spa… without having to be…"

"I can't believe we almost fell for it," Agape said.

* * *

The men stopped their chat and looked over to the girls to see Wizard-Theif looking at the tablecloth. Bakari noticed that Wizard-Theif was clutching her pants so tight that her knuckles were white. Quietly he turned to Bakura and Ryou and said, "Masika looks really upset."

Bakura looked and nodded. He ignored the feeling of pain that went through him when he saw her. Ryou, on the other hand, took Bakari's word and waited for the oldest to continue.

"They must be joking around about not believing her. Knowing Masika, she'll flip out because of the tomb thing. If she runs outside and meets anyone, things could get messy," Bakari continued. "We might want to leave now so we can keep an eye out."

Bakura nodded again. "I don't think she could handle another punishment."

Bakari gave him a searching look. "Something else happened besides the spas," he stated more than asked.

Before Bakura could reply Wizard-Theif had stood up from the table. She glared at the other girls as the crimson tint in her eyes started to overtake the black.

* * *

Wizard-Theif felt 5000 years of emotional baggage and stress erupt from the barriers she kept them behind. Without even truly realizing what she was doing, she started speaking, leaving her mind to catch up with her mouth.

"If I'm **that **untrustworthy, why did you even send me away in the first place!?" she shouted; her loud voice continuing to rise in volume until the entire restaurant was looking towards their table. "Why did you give me the punishment if you **knew** I was going to do it!? Why do you even stay friends with me if you **know** that I'm evil and going to stab you in the back one day?!"

She paused for a second and waited for her mind to catch up with her mouth. The moment it did, she realized that she meant every word she had said so she kept talking, allowing her mouth to speak what her mind had kept hidden for so long.

"Why did you bother helping me!? Why didn't you just kill me when you when you did away with Jayanti!?" she shouted.

Mossnose glared at her. "You idiot! We're your friends!" she shouted.

"Don't give me that friend crap!" Wizard-Theif yelled. "I don't want to hear it!"

Mossnose moved from her chair without realizing it. "You're the one who asked why we helped you and that's our reason!"

Wizard-Theif's flashed crimson before returning to the mixture of black and red. "Lair!" she screamed. "Just shut up!"

"Grow up Wizard-Theif!" Mossnose shouted. "Screaming like a two-year old isn't going to get you your way! It never has and it never will!"

Wizard-Theif put her hands over her ears as tears came from her eyes. At that moment, she didn't care how childlike she was behaving. All she cared about was getting rid of the pain that was surging through her. If separating herself from them was the only way to stop the pain, that was what she would do. "Shut up! Shut up you mutt!" she shouted as memories of her life when she was only two years old flooded her mind.

Everyone who was sitting at the table with the fight felt their eyes widen. Bakura was about to get out of his seat to stop the cat demon from attacking when Bakari grabbed his shoulder and forced him to remain sitting.

Mossnose's cat like eyes narrowed. "One to talk, Prodigium! At least I belong here in this world unlike a certain thing I could mention!"

Wizard-Theif's eyes shot open, and she stared at the ground. She said nothing for a moment, but slowly she removed her hands from her ears. Finally she said, "You're right Mossnose. I don't belong here." She looked up at her friends with a curiously amused smirk. "I don't belong anywhere," she said as she put her hand in the pocket of her jacket. In one smooth action she pulled out some money and a key, and threw them onto the table. "I won't be needing these anymore nor anything else in **your** apartment."

Mossnose and Agape looked at her oddly when she said 'your apartment'.

"The money is for my meal and rent. The key is for the apartment. You can sell all my stuff or keep it. I could care less." The Prodigium turned on her heel and with another twistedly amused smile she said, "Have a good life." The next moment, she had disappeared out the door and into the fading night.

* * *

It took a moment, but slowly people returned to their meals and their conversations. At the table where the fight had happened it was silent as the truth sunk in. When Mossnose realized what had happened, she started to run out the door. She was stopped by Bakari who grabbed her shoulder. He nodded to Ryou and Bakura who ran after Wizard-Theif. Agape and Spidey got up from their chairs and they paid for the meal. Then they returned to where Mossnose and Bakari stood.

"She just needs some time," Bakari said kindly as they left the restaurant. "I doubt even Bakura has made her so angry. What did you do?"

"We were just talking about her trip and her punishment. She told us that she did the original punishment even though we told her to do the lighter one," Mossnose explained.

"Then she got really mad and yelled at us," Agape added.

"And you saw the rest," Spidey finished.

"_I knew it,_" Bakari thought as he listened to the girls explain. "_Masika must still be sore about not being trusted because of that time in the tomb._" Instead of voicing his thoughts, Bakari nodded. "Bakura and Ryou will find her. When they do, I'll let you know so you'd better go home. I'll call tomorrow."

"No way in Hell!" Mossnose said as she started to run in the direction Wizard-Theif had. To her annoyance, Bakari blocked her. "Get out of my way! This is my fault, and I'm going to look for her!"

"No you aren't," Bakari said, suddenly harsh.

"What gives you the right to order me around!?"

"I'm her older brother so I know her the best. If she saw one of you, she would lose it again and probably do something stupid."

Spidey nodded and started to speak. "Mossnose-"

The cat demon ignored her. "How can you say you know her best? You died when she was what? Five? And then met up with her again 5000 years later! How can you say you know her?"

Bakari's eyes filled with pain at the memory of his death and then iced over turning a light blue. The street lights around him flickered. "How can you?! You've only known her for five hundred years, and you still don't know when she is being serious or playing around! I, on the other hand, do! I knew her when she was a kid! Baraka and I saw her when she was a happy child! She always opened up to us and anyone she met! I gave my life so that she would remain protected and when I come back to life what do I find!? The Masika I meet is strong and proud but fake! She takes the jokes that you guys make about her behaviour! She acts the way she thinks she should! She hides who she really is in an immature attempt to be accepted! But even with those changes, I can still tell how she is feeling! I can correctly guess, without using my Prodigium gift, how she will react to different situations!

"Tell me, demon, are all your kind evil and heartless just like the humans say they are?"

Mossnose glared at him. "You know perfectly well, we aren't! Every demon is different!" She didn't understand where Bakari was going with this.

Bakari turned to glare at Agape and Spidey who were speechless with confusion. "What about you humans? Are all your kind good and true?" He seemed to laugh at the idea.

"Where are you going with this, Bakari?" Spidey demanded.

This time he did laugh, and a street light exploded. "I'm just showing you something. You say that demons and humans can be both good and evil. If that is true why can't a darkness incarnation be good?" He continued before they answered. "Can a good person do evil things and still be good?"

"They are tainted by it but if they carry regret and not longing, they are still good," Agape answered.

Bakari grinned and another street light exploded. "You are all so wise." He seemed to mean it. "And yet you're influenced by the stereotypes of your kind, both human and demon. You're lucky that my main instinct is to protect anyone who I consider family, and I always consider my friends family." The next second Bakari's eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to the pavement.

When the girls got to his side, Bakari was already moving. His eyes were back to their reddish black colour as he rubbed his head with his hand. "I thought I had that problem under control," he muttered.

"What problem Bakari?" Agape said as she glared at the man at her feet.

He looked up at the girls. "Uh… I said something that really made you guys mad, didn't I?"

"Big time," Spidey told him.

He sighed and rubbed a hand through his bangs. "Brilliant. Okay. What did I say?"

The girls all stared at him in disbelief.

He stared back for a moment and then shrugged. "I know, I know. It seems like a really stupid question, but I honestly don't remember."

Mossnose glared at him and gave him a summarized version of what had just happened. When she had finished, Bakari nodded.

"That must have been what tipped me off."

"You'd better start explaining, Bakari," Agape threatened.

He nodded. "One day, Baraka and I were trying to improve a thunderstorm spell. It was originally designed to make lightning avoid you, but we wanted the spell to make you able to control it without fear of getting shocked. But there was an accident. As a result, whenever Baraka or I lost control or were zapped by a huge amount of energy, our emotions would completely take over. Because I don't bottle up my emotions I'm not very violent, but Baraka… he was like a demon. One time he almost killed me, but Masika came over the hill to see what we were doing and for some reason it knocked some sense into him."

Agape stared at her boyfriend. "Actually, I meant you'd better explain what tipped you off."

Bakari looked down at his hands and feet. "I guess I'll still sore about not being able to see my little sis grow up. Mossnose's reminder must have shocked me so much that I went Lightning."

"And what exactly is Lightning?" Mossnose asked.

Bakari shrugged. "Hell if I know. I'm usually out of it while my darker emotions take control, sorta like an alter-ego. But from watching Baraka go Lightning I can guess at our powers. We seem to be able to control electricity and force it to do whatever we want. Since our darker emotions control it, the more powerful the emotion the less control we have over where the electricity goes." Bakari looked around. "Judging from that broken light, I'm going to guess that the electricity in the lamp reacted to my magic and because too much for the lamp to hold, thus causing it to explode."

All the girls just looked at him. "Huh?"

Bakari sighed and then said, "If my darker emotions get more powerful so does the electricity around me, if the stuff using the electricity can't take that sort of power it explodes. Okay?"

The girls nodded. "Does Bakura have this power too?" Spidey asked.

Bakari slowly nodded. "Yes, and he is just as violent as Baraka. My emotions are right though. If you weren't considered family, I would have slaughtered you." He stood up. "So are you going to go after Masika still?"

"No," Mossnose said reluctantly.

Bakari smiled a sad smile. "I'll call tomorrow, I swear." He walked over to his car. "Sleep well girls."

The girls nodded in reply and then got into Spidey's car. Their talk with Bakari had really opened their eyes. They just hoped that Wizard-Theif would listen and forgive when they saw each other next. With a collected sigh, they started the quiet and painful trip back home. They weren't worried about Wizard-Theif's whereabouts. They knew that even if Ryou couldn't find her, Bakura would. What they were worried about was the damage to their friendship with the Prodigium.

* * *

Wizard-Theif kept running through the snow covered streets of London until she came to the park where she had met Harry. She noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the snow and picked it up. At once, she realized it was a piece of a newspaper with an article she wrote. The article was about the new twenty-four seven gym. The gym had just opened recently, and when Wizard-Theif had been there last, she remembered there were some punching bags. She figured that a punching bag was the best thing for her right then so she headed in the direction of the gym. When she got there she bought a membership and was given a free training outfit and a gym bag. The gym had them left over from the grand opening and was now giving them out to anyone who bought a membership.

Wizard-Theif didn't care though. She just changed into the clothes and went to where the punching bags were. Almost as soon as she started punching the bag, she felt a little relief but the pain from the fight was still strong. She tried to ignore the pain and started attacking the punching bag with various practiced tactics. With every attack, she felt better until she paused for a break. The moment that she paused, the pain came back. Soon it wasn't just the pain from the fight. Soon the built up pain from her whole lifetime was attacking her. The more the pain grew the more she tried to ignore it by attacking the innocent bag. Slowly tears of frustration came out of her eyes when the pain didn't dull no matter how much she attacked the bag.

"_Why?_" she kept asking herself. "_Why the hell did I go to pieces like that? I'm such an idiot! So they don't trust me completely, so what? It's just part of being a human and a demon not to completely trust someone. That's why they build walls… So why does it effect me so much?_"

She missed the bag, and it ended up hitting her in the gut. To her disgust, the pain actually seemed to be helping, as if physical pain was the only thing that could heal her mental pain. She didn't dare miss again, for fear of where her craving for physical pain would lead her.

"_I'm pathetic!_" she raged at herself again. "_What sort of creature wants to feel pain!?_" She paused to measure the pain in her mind. "_After all these years, I should be used to the pain of not being trusted or belonging and yet…_" Tears started to form again as she kicked the bag. "Damn it!" she muttered as she started wishing for something to take her mind off her mental pain. "_I'm going insane. Next thing I know, I'm going to be trying to hang myself._"

The bag hit her again as her kick missed its target. "_I hate being a Prodigium!_" she shouted at the bag in her mind. "_Always being the outsider! Always needing help! Always needing to be part of some sort of group! Always having to have a purpose! Always having to be trusted! I hate it! I hate being a Ra-Damned Incarnation of the most needing element! Shadows! Darkness! Always taking things into itself to strengthen itself! Always trying not to be alone._" She missed the bag again."_Damn it!_" For every sentence she shouted in her head she attacked the bag. Within seconds it looked as if it had been used for target practice for a semi-automatic gun, and Wizard-Theif was panting. She didn't stop though, and her thoughts became full of self-hate and pain.

She barely cared when a man walked into the room and started half-heartily punching the other bag. When the man stopped punching the other bag, Wizard-Theif still didn't even care. In fact, she didn't even truly notice the man until she went to attack the bag and badly missed. When this happened, she was about to kiss the ground when the man caught her. She stared at the floor for a moment as her mind tried to figure out why she hadn't hit the ground yet. Before her mind could figure it out, she felt herself stand up straight again and look into the face of Bakura.

He gave her a small smile and said, "Need a sparring partner?"

She glared at him and turned so that he couldn't see her face that was red from the tears and fighting. "I don't think that is a good idea. I might murder someone right now."

Bakura shrugged and pretended not to notice her tears. "I've already died once before. I think I know how to avoid it." When Wizard-Theif didn't reply, he walked in front of her, took a step back, and then threw a punch at her.

Wizard-Theif ducked and moved to the side. She glared at him, but it didn't hold the same threatening gaze as it usually did. If anything she seemed thankful for the distraction. She replied to his punch with a punch of her own which he easily dodged. They repeated this for about twenty minutes, every so often adding in a kick or a block. After thirty minutes, Bakura started to talk as he sparred.

"You still put too much weight on your right foot," he told her.

She aimed a kick at him which he blocked as she said, "Can I help it if I'm not left footed like all you Egyptians?"

Bakura grinned as counter attacked. "I guess not, but you can help your aim a bit."

"You're one to talk. Unlike you, I used a bow and arrow back in Egypt."

"And you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."

"I had better aim than you!"

Bakura's grin widened. "Key word, 'had'."

Wizard-Theif managed to punch him in the gut. She gave him a smirk when he kneeled down clutching his gut. "How was that for working on my aim?"

Bakura gave her an amused glare though the pain. "I was distracted!" She laughed, and Bakura couldn't help but smile.

"Sure you were," Wizard-Theif said.

"I demand a rematch!"

"Bring it on, human!" She said as she assumed a fighting stance.

"Why don't you bring it?" Bakura asked as he did the same. For a moment, they weren't back in the gym. For a moment, they were seven and six years old in Egypt and had just made up a battle plan to survive the orphanage that they had been tricked into. But, it was only for a moment. The next moment, Wizard-Theif was on the ground, and Bakura rushed to her side. He realized it was a mistake though when Wizard-Theif aimed a kick at his legs causing him to fall to the ground.

As she stood, she looked at him in slight confusion. "Weird. I would have thought that the big, bad, great Thief King of Ancient Egypt would have known better than to get close to an enemy if you don't know their condition."

"Who says that you're my enemy?" Bakura asked as he got up. "Last time I checked, we were on the same side unless you really are evil." He noticed that her smile faltered and quickly said, "Sorry."

Wizard-Theif just shook her head. "It's okay. You more than anyone have a right to wonder if I'll stab you in the back." Without waiting for a reply, she walked over to where she left her bag and disappeared into the girls' changing room.

Bakura mentally kicked himself. He should have known better than to say that. With a sigh, he followed Wizard-Theif's example and got changed. As he was getting changed, an idea hit him. He grabbed his bag and ran out of the changing room. Luck was on his side because Wizard-Theif was just a few steps ahead of him. He ran up to her and asked if she wanted to get something to drink.

At first Wizard-Theif refused, but Bakura kept giving her reasons why she should come get a drink with him. They were a few city blocks away from the gym when she gave in. Luckily there was a little restaurant opened since it was close to six am. They sat down and ordered their drinks and a dessert since neither felt like eating breakfast. They waited in silence until Bakura spoke.

"I wonder how Atemu did on his punishment. He can't have done any better than us, can he?" Bakura said with a small smile at the thought of Kaiba yelling at Atemu. His smile faded when Wizard-Theif muttered:

"At least the others know you did your punishment. I can't even do something right without them not believing me."

Their drinks came at this moment. Bakura took a sip of his drink and said, "I could always tell them."

She shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, but you didn't actually see me at the spas so they won't believe it."

"Why did you go for the harder punishment anyways?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I did it because I saw it as my duty as a friend." Subconsciously, she wrapped her arms around herself. "Makes me wonder what kind of friendship I have with them. They almost seem to think that just because I can get away with something I'll do it." She looked down at the table as she muttered, "Sometimes I wonder how much trust they have in me."

Bakura frowned. "If it's any comfort, I know how you feel. For the first month that I returned to this world, Ryou was constantly telling me to be good, not to steal anything, etc."

"At least he stopped though."

Bakura shrugged. "He might have but Atemu hasn't and don't even get me started on Bakari. He just reminds me for fun because he knows it annoys me." He looked a bit peeved as he said, "Did he do that to Baraka too, or am I just special?"

Wizard-Theif shrugged as well. "I dunno. Bakari and Baraka always got along when I was around except for that one time."

"With the emotions taking control?"

"Yeah, it was creepy seeing them covered in my brother's blood but seeing you go Lightning on me was even creepier." She shivered at the memory

Bakura also felt a shiver go down his spine when he remembered waking up from that event covered in blood that was mostly his own. He remembered seeing an unconscious body leaning against the wall as well as an unharmed but terrified Wizard-Theif. In the present, he tried to cover his shiver by taking a sip from his drink. "At least I managed not to kill anyone."

"You almost killed the guard," Wizard-Theif muttered.

Bakura frowned. "He was the one who zapped me with your world's version of a taser. Besides, he wasn't going to let you leave the prison so it was the only thing I could do, and it's not like I killed him."

Wizard-Theif didn't reply as she took a sip of her drink. At that moment, their desserts came. They were half-way through the desserts when Bakura said, "Were you actually serious about letting them sell all your stuff?"

Wizard-Theif nodded. "It's not mine anymore Bakura. The moment I gave them the key was the moment that I gave them all that I had in that apartment."

"Like a peace offering?" Bakura quietly asked.

Wizard-Theif smiled at her drink in an ironic sort of way. "More like a parting gift." She shrugged. "And it's not like I can't just replace what I gave up."

Bakura gave her an odd look. "With what money? I thought you gave up the life of being a thief after you left Egypt." Bakura mentally kicked himself again for almost being up the tomb incident.

Wizard-Theif gave him an amused look. "Bakura, I've had hundred of lifetimes to save up money in the bank. After the first hundred years, it really starts to add up. I wouldn't be surprised if I was richer than Kaiba."

Bakura nodded and wondered why he never thought of that. "_Probably because I never thought I was coming back,_" he thought as he said, "So do you have any plans as to where you're going to stay until you get your own place?"

Wizard-Theif shrugged as she took a sip of her drink. "I was thinking maybe a hotel or something. It can't take all that long to find an apartment," she said.

Bakura frowned. Thoughts of Jean wandered through his mind. "Take it from someone who knows, apartments take forever to find, and hotels are expensive."

Wizard-Theif nodded. "Let's remember, money isn't really a problem for me."

Bakura nodded. He knew what he wanted to suggest but he was having trouble bringing himself to say it. "Yeah, but the hotels are probably packed with it being close to Christmas, and I doubt anyone is renting apartments right now."

Wizard-Theif shrugged. "I know, but at least it's a plan."

Bakura took a deep breath as he cautiously said, "We have a spare room back at our house. Why don't you room there until you find an apartment?"

Wizard-Theif looked at him and was about to give a reason why she couldn't stay there when Bakura cut her off.

"Of course, if you room at our place you'll have to pay rent and help out."

She shook her head. "I can't!"

"You aren't broke so you can pay."

"I can't room at your house."

Bakura gave her a hurt look. "Masika, you've hurt me. Are we really such horrible people that you don't want to share a house with us until you find an apartment?"

Wizard-Theif gave him a look filled with annoyance and a hint of amusement. "Ryou, no. You and Bakari…"

At that moment Bakura's cell started ringing. He looked at the Caller I.D, sighed and said, "Excuse me," before getting up from the table. "Hey Bakari."

"Did you find her?" Bakari asked.

"Yeah and-"

"Tell her she can room at our place then. She probably is thinking she can stay at a hotel, and we both know what kind of weirdos hang around those places."

"I already did, but she doesn't seem to like the idea."

"Put her on the phone," Bakari demanded.

Bakura sighed and walked over to the table. He handed Wizard-Theif the phone and told her who it was. She looked like she didn't want to answer the phone but she did. Bakura watched with amusement as Wizard-Theif tried to tell Bakari why she shouldn't room with them. He smiled five minutes later when Wizard-Theif gave him his phone back. "Well?" he asked.

She sighed and then said, "It looks like we'll be housemates until I find an apartment."

He frowned. "You make it sound like the worst punishment possible."

Wizard-Theif ignored him and started eating her dessert again. Bakura also started eating his but after a few moments he said, "There is something else bothering you besides the fight with the others, isn't there?" When she didn't reply Bakura continued. "Does it have to do with the trip?" She shivered and Bakura kept speaking. "If it has to do with Jean, I can guarantee you're never going to see him again. He is not going to attack you ever again."

Wizard-Theif gave him a surprised look and Bakura realized his mistake. She gave him a searching look. "How did you know about that?"

"_Damn it,_" he thought. "_How do I explain this without telling her about the curse?_" Bakura knew that Wizard-Theif would know if he lied so he wasn't left with any other options. If he was lucky, she would believe him. If he wasn't…

She sat with her arms crossed. "Well?"

Suddenly Bakura's watch beeped. He looked at the time and swore in Egyptian. "_I guess I'll have to tell her. There is no way I can get home in time,_" he thought as he put some money on the table that was more than enough for the desserts. Looking around, he tried to find a place where he could transform without fear of being seen by anyone other than Wizard-Theif. He decided that his only option was the alley so he grabbed Wizard-Theif's arm and said, "I'll show you. Come on." They walked by the washrooms and Bakura suddenly had an idea. He quickly looked around and then dragged Wizard-Theif into the washroom. Once they were inside Wizard-Theif started freaking out at him.

"Bakura, what the hell was in your drink!? This is a girls' washroom!"

He glared at her over his shoulder as he locked the door. "Would you rather be seen walking out of the men's? Because in a few seconds you're going to be walking out of here seemingly alone."

She glared back. "Do you know how this must look to anyone who saw us?!"

"You don't have a boyfriend who will dump you, so why do you care?"

Her eyes narrowed even more. "I care on your behalf. If Bakari or one of the others found out about this, do you have any idea what they would say?"

"You're the one who wanted to know how I knew about Jean attacking you."

"What the hell does that have to do with being in a girls' washroom?"

Bakura's watch beeped again and he smirked. "_Showtime,_" he thought as he started glowing. The next second he was covered in his clothes with his bag lying on the ground beside him. He poked his head out of the clothes and heard a squeak of terror. At that moment, he remembered Wizard-Theif's fear of cobras. "_Maybe I should have given her a bit more warning,_" Bakura thought as he noticed that Wizard-Theif had put as much distance between them as possible and was right up against the stalls.

"Ba… Bakura?" Wizard-Theif managed to say after a few moments.

He nodded.

"So then… the snake that bit Jean was…?"

He nodded again.

Wizard-Theif seemed to have managed to get over her initial panic but she still kept a good distance away from him. "Do Bakari and Ryou know?"

He shook his head.

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Yeah, that would make this too easy." She grabbed his clothing and put them into his bag. When she was done, she tipped the bag on its side and moved away from it so that Bakura could slither in. He did as she asked and once he was inside, Wizard-Theif zipped up the bag after a moment's hesitation. She then walked over to the door, unlocked it, and walked out of the restaurant. While she walked, she tried to think up an excuse as to why she was coming to the guys' house without Bakura.

"Bakura?" she muttered to the bag. She almost had a heart attack when Bakura poked his snake head out of the bag. He seemed to be laughing, but Wizard-Theif ignored him. "Would Bakari and Ryou believe me if I said that you went to get a drink?"

Bakura nodded but didn't seem very happy. He also appeared to be shivering, but before Wizard-Theif could say anything, he disappeared back into the bag. Remembering that snakes were cold-blooded, Wizard-Theif carefully zipped the bag so that no snow could get in. When she came to the front door of the house she took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. She heard feet running to the door and hoped that it was Bakari and not Ryou so that she wouldn't have to explain.

"Wizard-Theif!"

To her dismay it was Ryou who opened the door. She was about to explain when Ryou spoke.

"Bakari is busy on the phone with Spidey, but he's already explained. Come in."

Wizard-Theif nodded and stepped into the house. At once she noticed that the colour of the walls had changed from the last time she had been there, which had been a slumber party during the summer. When the guys first moved in, the walls were a creamy green but now they were a baby blue. Bakari and Bakura always wanted to change the colour but were too lazy to do it. "_Ryou must have gotten fed up with the whining,_" Wizard-Theif thought as she removed her top coat and shoes.

Ryou had disappeared into the kitchen but quickly reappeared with Bakari. A bit of the older boy's hair had come out of his pony tail making him seem more worried than he actually was. All the same, he rushed up to his little sister and gave her a hug. Wizard-Theif stiffened at the contact but returned the hug. When Bakari released her he asked, "So where did Bakura find you?"

"That new gym. I needed to kill something, and Bakura volunteered," Wizard-Theif explained.

Bakari shook his head. "Idiot. You'd think he'd know by now that he can't beat a Prodigium."

"He came close."

Bakari looked just as surprised as Wizard-Theif felt at her comment. Before Bakari could say anything more about it, Ryou asked, "Where **is** Bakura?"

Wizard-Theif felt Bakura poke her through the bag. "He went to get a drink."

Bakari gave her a searching look as if he didn't believe her, before he sighed. "Great. Masika, the next time you fight Bakura, don't aim for the head. He doesn't really have the brain cells to spare."

Ryou gave Bakari an annoyed look while looking very Bakura like. "Why do you say that?"

Bakari grinned and messed up Ryou's hair. "Don't worry Ryou. You got Baraka's book smarts and not Bakura's street smarts. I'm just saying that Bakura knows better than to get drunk at this time of day."

"Who says he's going to be drunk when he comes home?" Ryou argued.

Wizard-Theif nodded. "For all you know, Bakari, he might be getting a drink so that he doesn't kill his boss at The Capital Restaurant."

Before Bakari could say anything about that Wizard-Theif turned to Ryou. "I'm going to go to the spare room, okay? And just warning you, I'm nocturnal now."

"We know."

Wizard-Theif nodded and then made her way to where the bedrooms were. When she entered the spare room she put the bag down on the floor and opened it. Bakura slithered out and nodded his thanks before going out the door and into his room across the hall. Wizard-Theif then locked the door and pulled the blinds over the window. Once that was done, she lay on the bed and instantly fell asleep. Little did she know, a pair of eyes was watching her as she slept.

* * *

**A/N: Another long chapter and I'm out of time. Oh well. That's the good thing about imaginary deadlines. They're imaginary. Happy Birthday Spidey and thanks to L.A for betaing (sorry about the fight but that was the only way I could write it.) Please review before moving on to the next chapter.**

**-WT**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I wonder how much longer this story will be. Probably will be shorter than CTWS? And Spidey do you know how annoying you are when you are getting on my back to write TAT. Here I am, trying to write you a surprise present in time for your birthday **(epically failed)** and all you can think about it how I'm not writing TAT.**

_Disclaimer: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Wizard-Theif. Spidey owns Spidey, Natsuko, and Giglimesh; Mossnose owns Mossnose; Yu-Gi-Oh, and Yu-Gi-Oh characters are owned by Kazuki Takahashi._

* * *

"I bet that when you return from the trip you'll be rooming at our house because of a fight, and within a week you and Bakura will be in the same bed." WT thought there was no way that Bakari could win, but she didn't think she'd get into a fight with her friends either. Could Bakari win?

* * *

Chapter 8

Every silver lining has a dark cloud.

Ring! Ring! Riiing!

Wizard-Theif opened one eye to glare at the cordless phone on her night table. The stupid thing had been ringing for three minutes straight, and no one had answered it yet. She concluded that the men must not be home since the phone was still ringing. For a moment, she wondered whether to answer the phone or not. When the phone continued to ring, Wizard-Theif answered it.

"Hello?" she asked.

To her growing annoyance, all she heard was a dial-tone, and yet the ringing continued. She looked at the cord phone for a second and then realized it was her cell phone ringing. With a sigh, she grabbed her cell from her gym bag and pushed the 'talk' button.

"Hello?" she repeated, now a little bit more awake than she had been moments before.

"It's been a while, Masika," the voice on the other end said.

Wizard-Theif didn't even wait to hear more. She hung up the phone and tried to calm her racing heart. "_Calm down,_" she mentally ordered herself. "_Jean may have my number but that doesn't mean he knows where I am… How did he even get my number, and how did he find out what my name is?_"

Her cell phone started ringing again, but before it could ring even three times, Wizard-Theif turned it off. Then the cord phone started ringing. It rang two times before Bakari picked up. Wizard-Theif could overhear his part of the conversation since he was just down the hall. She didn't try to listen, but when she heard her own name she couldn't help herself.

"Yes, we found Masika… I can assure you that she is safe, Spidey... Not to be rude but if someone doesn't answer her cell that usually means that either they are sleeping or they are still mad… Yes, I know where she is… No, I can't tell you… Because I can't… That is too a reason! … Spidey, she hates Bakura so why would she be rooming in the same house as him? … Okay fine, she **thinks** she hates him… Fine, if I see her, I'll pass on the message… She might have moved already. You know how she is, here today, gone tomorrow… Fine, I'll call… Okay! … I get it! … Bye!"

Wizard-Theif heard him hang up the phone and then mutter, "Human women, I tell ya," before yelling at Bakura. "Hey, Bakura. Go wake up Masika. I need to talk to her."

She almost laughed when she heard Bakura's reply, "Sure, send the lamb to the slaughter, why don't ya?" Bakari must have glared at him because the next moment, Bakura was knocking on her door. "Masika? You awake?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Bakari needs to talk to you."

"I'll be out in a second." She appeared outside the closed door in under thirty seconds. "Where's Bakari?"

Bakura pointed to the living room and was avoiding looking at her. He seemed to be debating with himself. She was almost at the end of the hall when Bakura hesitantly said, "Promise you won't tell anyone about the…"

Wizard-Theif grinned. "As long as you don't turn me in to Spidey or the others, I won't make you regret telling me." She left Bakura standing there and made her way to the living room where she met a stressed Bakari.

"Your friends are loud," he told her when she walked into the living room.

Wizard-Theif nodded and sat down. "Bakura said you wanted to talk to me."

Bakari nodded. "Yeah, Spidey called. She wants to know where you are and the usual." He sighed. "I'll make this simple. Do you want to move back in with Mossnose and Agape or wait around here until you get an apartment?"

Wizard-Theif shrunk back into her chair, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "_I had forgotten about that. I guess it was really one of the girls calling me and not _him_, but I can't go back now. I said that I was leaving. I can't just go back on my word no matter what I want_," She told herself.

Unfortunately, a little voice in the back of her head disagreed. "_Just go back. What's the worst that can happen? It's not like they are going to force you into another punishment._"

For a moment, Wizard-Theif believed it was** her** again, but then she remembered that they had killed that demon a long time ago. "_It's a matter of pride,_" she answered. "_And if I go back we'll go back to the way things were._"

"_And that's a bad thing?_"

Wizard-Theif mentally nodded. "_If I do that, it might happen again, and it might turn out even worse. I need to have my own place just so that if I have to get away I can, and the only way to find such a place is to stay here for a little while. This is the only way to make sure that I don't cause any harm anymore. Just because _she_ is gone, doesn't mean that my emotions can't cause problems if they get out of control._"

"_If you say so._"

Wizard-Theif mentally nodded again before speaking aloud to her brother. "No offence to Mossnose or Agape, but I'd rather stay here without them knowing… If that's ok?" she said quietly.

Ryou randomly poked his head out of the kitchen while Bakura walked into the living room.

"It's perfectly fine," Ryou said as he turned to Bakura. "Right, Onii-chan?"

Bakura blinked for a second as he pulled a headphone out of his ear. "Were you talking to me?" he asked.

"We were just discussing Masika staying with us until she gets an apartment," Bakari said to Bakura. Then to Wizard-Theif he said, "And I agree with Ryou so you might as well get used to us."

"Hey, don't I get a say in this?" Bakura asked.

Bakari gave him an amused look. "So you don't want Masika to stay?"

The face Bakura made was so funny that Ryou couldn't help but start to chuckle. He was soon joined by Wizard-Theif who was quietly laughing.

"No, it's just that…" Bakura tried to explain. He could feel his face start to heat up in embarrassment. When he realized there was no way to finish the sentence without Bakari implying things, he said, "I'm going for a walk." He disappeared out the front door a moment later, and Ryou disappeared into the kitchen again.

"So anyways," Bakari said as he turned his attention back to his younger sister. "My last question is, did anything happen when you were in Paris? And don't try to lie. I'll know if you do."

Wizard-Theif looked her brother in the eye and said, "Define anything."

"I'm not talking about between you and Bakura, that's your business. What I mean is, did anyone attack you or anything? Are you sick?" Before Wizard-Theif could say anything, Bakari added, "Your magical signature is weaker than it usually is so I was just wondering."

Wizard-Theif just nodded in understanding. "_So that's why I can't use my powers. I don't have enough magic to do anything. Damn it,_" she thought as she replied, "It's probably just the stress from everything."

"Stress can't make your signature weaker."

"Indirectly," she pointed out. "Stress weakens your immune system which in turn makes you more vulnerable to disease."

Bakari nodded. "That's true and you running around without your coat unbuttoned can't be helping."

Wizard-Theif decided to skip the lecture about doing up her coat since she felt that her brother blamed her weak signature on a slight cold. "_But just in case, I'd better reassure him so that he doesn't ask any more questions about it,_" she thought as she said, "You don't have to worry about me, Bakari. Even without my powers I'm still a fighter. I won't let any guy get me."

Bakari nodded and then stood up with a smile on his face. "And you also have your guardian."

Wizard-Theif shrugged. "If you are talking about Bakura, he kinda has to be sober if he's going to be any help."

Bakari nodded and watched as Wizard-Theif slipped a winter coat over her jacket. She was about to walk outside when Bakari said, "And, where are you going?"

Wizard-Theif rolled her eyes and then said, "I'm going out for a walk. I'll see you guys later."

Bakari coughed and said, "Dressed like that?"

At that moment Wizard-Theif realized that she was still dressed in the clothes Spidey had forced her to wear. Bakari laughed at the look on her face and said, "Follow me." Wizard-Theif followed him back to the spare room where he opened up the closet. Hanging inside were some of her clothes. She gave him a confused look.

"I told Mossnose that it might be a good idea if you had some clothes over here in case of another… Uh… Spidey make-over attack. Obviously she agreed."

"Did you tell anyone about the bet?" Wizard-Theif asked as she looked through her clothes.

Bakari appeared confused for a moment before his face lit up. "Oh yeah, the bet! I totally forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me. Oh and Masika…"

Wizard-Theif turned to see her brother by the door. "What?"

He winked at her. "Don't do anything you'll regret later with Bakura."

Wizard-Theif blushed a thousand shades of red as she screamed in the language of the Prodigiums, "Bakari! You pervert!"

Once her brother had left the room, she quickly got changed, put on her outerwear and went out the door. She walked around for a bit before she remembered that she had to go see her boss. When she finally got down to The London Journal, she was surprised to see it was closed. "Celebrating the Christmas season. Open from one pm until 4 pm. Happy Holidays," she read from the sign. She couldn't help but smirk. "_The old git really does have a heart. Who knew?_" she thought.

With a smile, she turned away from the building and started wandering. As she wandered different thoughts came to her. One of them was about all the presents she had bought. She couldn't help but smirk. "_I'm so glad that I posted them in the mail at the airport. If I hadn't, it would have been awkward gift giving,_" she thought as she walked by a mall.

As she was walking by the park, her hat suddenly got blown off. She chased it for a bit before she noticed that someone was following her out of the corner of her eye. When she finally caught her hat she looked around. At first glance, she didn't spot anything out of the ordinary until a pile of snow moved. With a second glance, she realized that it wasn't a pile of snow but a mop of white hair. At third glance, she realized the person had red eyes. And with a fourth, she realized that the park was the last place she wanted to be at that moment. She took off running out of the park as fast as she could. In her present state, a snowball would have a better chance of not melting in Hell than she would protecting herself from him.

After running ten city blocks, Wizard-Theif stopped for a breather. "_I should have just run into a store, but if he followed, people may get involved,_" she thought as she took a deep breath. "_I think I lost him._" She looked over her shoulder to see that Zorc was catching up, and he wasn't even panting! "_Or not._"

Running with more willpower than physical power, Wizard-Theif tried to lose him.

Wizard-Theif kept running through the snow covered streets of London, but every second he was gaining on her, and she had nowhere to turn. She tried to increase her speed some more but ended up slipping on a patch of ice. Trying to use that to her advantage, Wizard-Theif used the momentum to turn into an alley and build up speed. Unfortunately, the slip had made her slow down, and he caught up. Just like the previous time she had ran from him, he threw her up against a wall and pinned her there.

"You shouldn't run like that," Zorc told her. "A person might get the idea that you didn't like them."

"What a crying shame," Wizard-Theif said sarcastically as she glared at him.

"Have you changed your mind?"

"I ran! What the hell do you think?!"

Zorc moved her arms above her head and held them there with one hand. With the other, he touched her check. At once, Wizard-Theif tried to bite him, but he moved his hand. He moved his head and whispered into her ear, "If you didn't have spirit this would be no fun."

Wizard-Theif's eyes widened at the recognition. "So you were Jean! I can't believe I didn't see that!"

Zorc smirked. "Don't worry. I'll make sure that you see me everywhere you go from now on."

Wizard-Theif suddenly realized that she felt the chill of winter through her clothing and on her bare wings. At once, panic gripped her again. Because of the curse she was under, she was powerless, completely unable to fight back magically, and in a contest of strength, Zorc was the victor.

She looked around for her jackets and saw them on the ground. They must have fallen off when Zorc threw her against the wall because she hadn't done them up. She swore that if she ever got out of this mess without any sort of injures, she would do her jackets up from then on.

Zorc's smirk grew when he noticed her panic. "By the way, this look suits you, but personally, I prefer more skin."

"Get the hell away from me!" Wizard-Theif yelled.

Zorc silenced her by kissing her on the check. Wizard-Theif instantly shrunk away from him. To her horror, he leaned forward.

"You sure you still want me to get away from you?"

Wizard-Theif refused to look at him so she closed her eyes. Behind her eyelids, her eyes were filled with fear. She couldn't kick him. She couldn't bite him. She couldn't use her powers. She couldn't do anything to stop him!

"Where are your friends now, little Masika?" He kissed her again on her other check.

She remained silent and tried to summon her daemon, but just like her other powers, it remain dormant in her soul.

"Oh that's right. You don't have any friends. All the people who you feel loyal to think you'll become a traitor one day and kill them."

Wizard-Theif kept her eyes shut so that Zorc couldn't see how much his comments were hurting. She felt him stroking one of her wings and tried to move them away from him but was unable to.

"They all think that, you know. You're newest friends, Elena AKA Spidey and Sentai AKA Mossnose. Bakura and Agape who have known you the second longest." He paused and then whispered in her ear, "Even your own brother."

Wizard-Theif's eyes shot open, and she looked at Zorc. The normally reddish black eyes quickly became completely crimson, and the white bangs turned as red as blood. At that moment, Zorc moved away from Wizard-Theif. The smirk didn't leave his face.

"It's been a long time, Jayanti," he said quietly.

The spirit possessing Wizard-Theif brushed off the body and then said, "Yes it has been. Care to explain why you almost raped my body?"

Zorc shrugged. "We both know that the barrier that keeps you from controlling the girl is emotionally affected. She wasn't going to let you out voluntarily so I… helped her a bit."

Jayanti nodded and said, "Yes, her mind is easy to mess with, isn't it? I had lots of fun messing with her mind while she was getting teased by her friends."

"Trust does seem to be her weak point, doesn't it?" Zorc mused.

Jayanti nodded again and then asked, in an impatient tone, "So how much longer will I be in this prison of flesh?"

Zorc seemed unwilling to answer. "Not much longer. The Immortal Council would not have sealed you into her body if they didn't want you to get free. Patience."

She glared at him. "I've been waiting 5000 years, brother!"

"As have I!" Zorc yelled before he calmed down. "You aren't the only one who was sealed."

"That was different. You were still able to manipulate people and cause chaos! And we are running out of time!"

"Be patient! I agree though. We are running out of time, but we have to wait until either we get the book or the seal itself breaks."

"I think our best bet is to steal that spell book Bakura has. Though this girl is an emotional wreck she is too well trained thanks to her past. She won't let her emotions get the best of her. To get the book, all I would have to do is possess this flesh. I'll try tonight."

Zorc nodded and watched as Jayanti walked to the entrance of the alley. "Just don't get caught," he told her. "If the boy sees you, he'll tell the girl's brother, and our cover will be blown."

Jayanti looked over at Zorc and winked. "Don't worry. I have everything under-" The next second a look of pain entered her eyes and she collapsed.

Zorc sighed and shook his head as he thought, "_The things I do for family._" He kneeled down beside the unconscious Prodigium and mumbled the words to a spell. When he finished he stood up and said, "Just keep this body alive. Without it our plan is useless." The next moment he walked out of the alley leaving her lying on the snow. The cold wind gently moving strands of hair over the unconscious face.

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**A/N: Short chapter! Wow… I'm really being evil to Wizard-Theif aren't I? Please review before moving onto the next chapter. Happy birthday Spidey and thanks to L.A.**

**-WT**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: It's hard to say which is easier to write, Drunk - or sober -. And warning, major Thick As Thieves spoilers.**

_Disclaimer: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Wizard-Theif. Spidey owns Spidey, Natsuko, and Giglimesh; Mossnose owns Mossnose; and Yu-Gi-Oh, and Yu-Gi-Oh characters are owned by Kazuki Takahashi._

* * *

"I bet that when you return from the trip you'll be rooming at our house because of a fight, and within a week you and Bakura will be in the same bed." WT thought there was no way that Bakari could win, but she didn't think she'd get into a fight with her friends either. Could Bakari win?

* * *

Chapter 9

A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts… or are they?

Wizard-Theif awoke to the sound of voices. She looked around for the source of the sound but a bright light blinded her. She quickly closed her eyes as a headache appeared and listened for the voices again.

"Any luck?" a gentle and anxious voice asked.

"Nothing, I can't keep this up Ryou," said a harsher sounding voice.

"Don't worry, we'll find her."

"No, we won't."

The person called Ryou seemed surprised as he replied, "How can you even think that?"

The man to whom Ryou was talking to growled. "Listen to me. We won't find her if she doesn't want to be found. We've been searching for over eight hours. If we haven't found her by now, we won't unless she wants us to. Even Bakari agrees, right Bakari?"

"_Why do those voices sound so familiar?_" Wizard-Theif thought as she struggled to sit up. "_Ryou, Bakari… I know those names but from where… Damn it… I can't concentrate with this headache._" A strong and worried male voice cut into her thoughts.

"Bakura is right, Ryou. Masika was always like that. The only person who could find her was Baraka, and that was only half the time. Bakura can't even find her, and he's the reincarnation of him."

"Okay. Okay. But still, shouldn't we call the police or something?"

"And tell them what?" the harsh voice said before it became somewhat gentle. "She'll show up. Don't worry."

"You don't even believe your own words, do you?" the strong voice, Bakari, muttered to Bakura.

"No. There is something really wrong with this. I just don't know what."

Footsteps passed in front of Wizard-Theif and then suddenly stopped. She felt someone pick her up and suddenly realized how cold she was. Her mind had been so concentrated on blocking the pain of her headache and listening to the men, that she had forgotten where she was.

"Bakura, I know you work at the pound but we don't have time for you to pick up random kittens you find in the snow," Bakari said.

"This is Masika's bat," Bakura replied.

"What?" the other two voices chorused.

"She had brought it on the trip to Paris with her."

"Bakura, are you sure this is the same bat?" Ryou asked.

"What other bat looks like this?"

The other voices were silent for a moment. Then Ryou spoke again saying, "We have to get it warm before it dies."

Wizard-Theif felt something wrapped around her and then she was put into a small space. At once she felt panic, but it disappeared when she felt the hand hold onto her protectively. For whatever reason, her bat instincts forced her to calm down and feel safe. Because of this she fell asleep once more.

When she awoke she found herself alone and warm; however, her headache was still present. "_Ra, I haven't felt this messed up since the first time that witch thing possessed me... where am I anyways?_" She opened her eyes a small bit and realized that she was in a dim room. The room itself was horribly messy, but it seemed cozy. Wizard-Theif shut her eyes quickly. The window was open, and even with the lights off, the light that reflected off the snow was blinding. Her headache grew in intensity. It was so bad in fact that Wizard-Theif had tears in her eyes. "_Damn it!_" she thought. "_This is even worse than waking up from after a possession. Lucky Ryou, Malik, and Yugi. They didn't have to worry about painful headaches after a possession… But Malik and Ryou did have to worry about bruising... Still! Headaches are worse! Oh Ra, it hurts even to think._"

Fate seemed to take mercy on the pathetic bat because at that moment, Wizard-Theif's thoughts were broken into by the sound of someone entering the room. She opened her eyes a crack and then quickly slammed them shut. "_Bakura! Get a shirt on!_" Wizard-Theif mentally raged at the unknowing Egyptian. In her bat form her eye sight was only a tad better than a bat's, but it was enough to see a one of Bakura's better qualities. Suddenly she heard footsteps pause at the door to Bakura's room.

"Onii-chan! It's the middle of winter. Get a shirt on before you catch a cold."

The man sighed. "Alright, Ryou, alright. I'll put on a shirt."

Wizard-Theif listened as Ryou's footsteps moved away from the door while mentally thanking him. She stopped in mid-thanks, though, when Bakura muttered:

"You'd think he'd learn by now not to leave any sort of loopholes. Well at least the cloaking spell works so I don't have to worry about the scales."

Unsure of what Bakura meant Wizard-Theif couldn't help but open one eye a little tiny bit. She slammed them shut as soon as she had caught sight of the man. He had put on a shirt like Ryou had asked, but he had neglected to button it up. Normally this wouldn't have worried Wizard-Theif and neither would have seeing Bakura topless because that was the style back in Ancient Egypt. Maybe it was just because it was winter, and he normally had a shirt on. Whatever the reason, Wizard-Theif felt very uncomfortable.

"You're awake, huh?" Bakura said.

Wizard-Theif wondered who he was talking to since there was no one else in the room until the obvious hit her. "_Ah! I'm such an idiot! Why did I have to go fall asleep in the snow? … Actually, what was I doing outside anyways? I remember going for a walk and running away from the park… Did I pass out or something? Why would I pass out though? I'm not sick… Oh Ra no! Please tell me that randomly passing out isn't part of the curse! Please, please Ra! Tell me that-_"

"Ok. Ok. I get it. You're awake."

Wizard-Theif stopped mid-rant and processed what Bakura had just said. "_Damn. I just said that all aloud. I am so glad that he doesn't understand bat talk,_" she thought. Someone touching one of her wings broke her thoughts and, acting on instinct, Wizard-Theif pulled her wing out of reach and backed away. She felt a bit bad about it when Bakura sighed, but before she could feel too bad, Bakura had left the room. He seemed happy enough and not at all worried about her like he had been earlier. With an unhappy pound, her headache grew worse again and she remembered why she had been in the snow the night before.

"Oh that's right. You don't have any friends. All the people who you feel loyal to think you'll become a traitor one day and kill them," Zork had said.

At that moment, Wizard-Theif realized that she had no memory of what happened after that. Panic raced through her again as she desperately tried to remember. "_I couldn't have just passed out,_" she thought to herself through the headache. "_And I wasn't possessed by Jayanti because I still remember who I am and stuff… then again the last time she possessed me I remembered everything I had forgotten from the last possession… Maybe Zorc put a spell on me or something… but why would he do that? This doesn't make any sense. I suppose the only way I'm going to get answers is if I track down Zorc, but I can't do anything in this form. Damn it._" Wizard-Theif opened her eyes to look at the watch that Bakura had left beside her. "_3:48 pm… Damn it! I'm going to transform back soon!_"

She looked at her wings and then down at the floor. It was still a long way down from there. With a gulp, she looked at her wings again. She closed her eyes, thought a prayer to the gods, and then she jumped off the dresser. She started flapping her wings and when she opened her eyes she was amazed to see that she was flying.

She was about to try a loopied-loop when her common sense kicked in. "_I don't have time for this. I have to get to the spare room so that I can transform,_" she thought. With her mission back in her mind, Wizard-Theif flew to the spare room. She landed on the floor and looked around. Everything looked so much bigger when you were smaller. Jumping up again she flew over to the closet. It took a few moments to open the door but once it was open, she looked towards the window to see that the sun was virtually gone now. Worrying that one of the boys might see the light from her transformation, Wizard-Theif ducked into the closet.

She transformed quickly and dressed even faster. Once she was dressed she grabbed a random jacket and hat from the closet and made her way for the window. Before she made it Ryou came into the room. With no where to hide Wizard-Theif ducked back into the closet and pushed herself against the wall. She didn't move an inch and held her breath as Ryou moved around the room. He seemed a bit upset, and Wizard-Theif really hoped that the man didn't see her. The last thing she wanted to do was use shadow magic on him. Lucky for her, Ryou left the room without even going near the closet.

Once the mortal had left, Wizard-Theif moved over to the window. She jumped out of the window and onto the new snow. As soon as she was outside she pulled the jacket close to her body and the hat over her head. With a look at the house to make sure that no one had seen her Wizard-Theif started walking. She had already decided to go back to the alley where she had passed out to see if there were any clues there. When she got there, she found her jackets buried in the snow. Unsure of what to do with them, she took off the jacket she was wearing and put on the other two since they had spells on them to hide her wings. With the jacket she had borrowed draped over her arm, she looked around the alley for clues.

Unfortunately, she was disappointed. She had hoped to find some remains of magic that would suggest a spell having been used but there was nothing. Zorc's footprints weren't even there. Wizard-Theif growled at her bad luck. "_Of course Zorc just had to be smart and cover his tracks,_" she thought. With a sigh, she decided to give up for the day. "_I wonder how long I was out for though. Can't have been that long since I'm still alive and kicking… But then again, Prodigiums naturally adapt to various temperatures so I can't actually die from exposure… In any case, Bakura was worried so it must have been more than a day but it had to been less than a week because Ryou hadn't given up hope. I hope Bakari doesn't give me a lecture when I get back._"

Within moments Wizard-Theif found herself in front of the house where she was staying. The moment she walked in the door Bakari yelled at her, demanding to know where she had been. She answered truthfully and told him that she had been in town and lost track of the time.

"Three days?" Ryou asked uncertainly.

Wizard-Theif nodded. She noticed that Bakura hadn't said anything yet and was a bit surprised by it. Before she could think too much about it, the Egyptian got up from his place on the couch and went for the door. This surprised Wizard-Theif even more. She had expected him to yell at her or at least ask her what she was thinking.

Ryou had also noticed the change in his original self. "Where are you going, Onii-chan?"

His original self just gave Ryou a glance and said in a low voice, "Out," before walking out the door.

Both the men sighed, their attention on the door. It only lasted a second though. A second after Bakari sighed, he remembered that he was interrogating his little sister. Luckily before he could start asking questions again, Wizard-Theif asked one of her own.

"So where **is** Bakura going?" she asked.

Ryou sighed again and gave her a sad look, but it was Bakari who answered.

"Probably a bar."

Wizard-Theif gave him a confused look, and Ryou gravely smiled.

"He was really worried about you," Ryou said as if that explained everything.

"Everyone was," Bakari corrected. "But Bakura was the most worried."

"Why would he worry about me? He knows I can take care of myself," Wizard-Theif asked them.

Bakari shrugged. "Probably a guardian thing. Baraka always went ballistic when Howahkan didn't know where you were. Bakura must have picked that up from him."

"Howahkan went ballistic too."

Bakari frowned at the mention of that name. "Yeah but not as bad as Baraka."

Ryou looked back and forth between the two Prodigiums. "Who's Howahkan?"

Bakari made a sour face. "Masika, you explain. I don't think I could say anything nice about the bastard."

Wizard-Theif gave Bakari a shocked face. "Bakari!"

"It's true. That… that…" Bakari angrily sighed as words failed to help him describe the man known as Howahkan. "He was horrible to Baraka, and he didn't deserve any of the 'punishments' Howahkan gave him," he finally said forcefully.

"Who is Howahkan?" Ryou repeated.

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Howahkan was Baraka's father. Baraka's mother died in childbirth, and Baraka survived."

"Howahkan whipped Baraka for every little mistake he made and even some he didn't," Bakari added. His voice was growing in hatred.

Wizard-Theif personally felt the same as Bakari but hid it. "Bakari, you're going to go Lightning if you keep that up."

Bakari glared at her but left the subject drop. Ryou disappeared into his room to work on something, and Wizard-Theif went to the spare room to get some sleep. After they had left, Bakari lay down on the couch and glared at the ceiling. His mouth was a small narrow line as he remembered his life before he died and was brought back to life in this world.

When he first met Baraka, the boy of fifteen had treated Bakari as if he was a prince and Wizard-Theif like she was the most valuable treasure in the universe. After spending a month in each other company though, Bakari had started to rub off onto Baraka. The boy became more open and treated Bakari like a friend, though he still treated Wizard-Theif like she was the most important thing in the world. After a while, the boys started getting into magic just like everyone else their ages. Unlike the other teens, they 'improved' spells and even taught Wizard-Theif some magic though Baraka was forbidden to do so by Howakhan.

Bakari smiled when he remembered watching Baraka make the book that Bakura now owned. The book was filled with their improved spells, and the side effects that happened when they tried to improve a spell. His smile disappeared though when he remembered the pain Baraka suffered at Howahkan's hand. For the longest time Bakari and Wizard-Theif didn't know about it until they accidentally saw one of Baraka's 'lessons'. Bakari had tried to cover Masika's eyes, but the young girl had wiggled out of his grasp and saw Baraka being whipped. A small bit of Bakari felt bad for turning Wizard-Theif against Howahkan, but the rest of him felt it was the right thing to do.

When the boys died, they decided one of them had to be reincarnated so that Wizard-Theif wouldn't be killed by the Immortal Council who were the government back in their world. Once Baraka was reincarnated, Bakari pretended that Bakura was his reincarnation to shield the two kids. The two men watched over the kids as they slowly made their way through life. Once or twice, Wizard-Theif and Bakura scared Bakari and Baraka, but it always worked out until the teens took on the Immortal Council.

The Immortal Council was a group of people who were the government in the Prodigiums' world. They were a group of people who were elected every eight thousand years. Their job was to send different incarnations out to different worlds to keep the balance between light and dark normal. Unfortunately, the Immortal Council became corrupted and started sending incarnations out to destroy different worlds that they felt were evil. It became so bad that the gods from all the other worlds, including Bakura's, came up with a prophecy stating that the Immortal would meet its end when a child who carried darkness appeared before them in battle unless they changed their ways. The Immortal Council decided not to obey the gods from all the worlds and started killing off all the darkness incarnations.

If the Immortal Council didn't discriminate between light incarnations and dark ones, then Wizard-Theif would have never had to fight them. Unfortunately they did, and they sent different light incarnations to kill her. Luckily Wizard-Theif and Bakura managed to fight them off until they got to the world of the Prodigiums. There the teens met Howahkan, and Wizard-Theif was told of her mission to destroy the Immortal Council. Unfortunately, Howahkan somehow sensed who Bakura truly was, and he made Wizard-Theif swear not to tell Bakura about her mission. As soon as the two went after the Immortal Council in the world of the Prodigiums, everything went downhill fast. Wizard-Theif was forced to leave Bakura in the dark about what they were doing, and finally he got so fed up with it that he left Wizard-Theif on her own. He came back though and that was probably the only reason Wizard-Theif survived the battle with the Immortal Council.

The moment the fight with the Immortal Council started Baraka had a bad feeling, and he told Bakari that Bakura also sensed it. Bakari didn't doubt his friend, and unfortunately Baraka was correct. The moment Wizard-Theif and Bakura were about to defeat the Immortal Council was the same moment that Jayanti merged with Wizard-Theif. Another thing happened at that moment as well. Wizard-Theif and Bakura were sent back to Bakura's world, the world they were in at that very moment.

No one, not Bakari, Baraka, Bakura or Wizard-Theif, knew what the outcome of the battle was. All they knew was that they could never go back. So instead of trying to learn what happened, Wizard-Theif and Bakura sunk into the Thief Underground and became the best thieves in all of Egypt.

A couple years after their return to Bakura's world, when the teens were breaking into another tomb, Baraka warned Bakari that he had that bad feeling again. A moment after Baraka told Bakari, Wizard-Theif became possessed by Jayanti and attacked Bakura. Jayanti attacked Bakura viciously and gave him the scar that once was on his right cheek. She then left him to die, and when Wizard-Theif regained control she had no memory of anything that had happened to her when she was with Bakura. She remembered going back to her world and trying to destroy the Immortal Council, but the memories were fakes since Bakura wasn't in any of them. Since she had no where to go, she went to the capital of Egypt and got work. She ended up meeting a little boy who she cared for as a mother would and a young magician in training called Mana who befriended her. Later on Wizard-Theif also befriended Mana's mentor, Mahado.

Unlike Wizard-Theif, Bakura's future after the attack was horrible. He disappeared back to Kul Elna where the spirit of his dead father and the other villagers possessed him. Just before the teen had been possessed he summoned Bakari and demanded to know if he was really his reincarnation. Bakari told him the truth, and then the boy fell under the spirits' power. They forced him to serve Zorc, and they also forced him to get revenge on Wizard-Theif by killing the little boy she looked after.

Bakari remembered Baraka looking away in pain when the possessed Bakura told Wizard-Theif he was going to make her life a living Hell. After that moment, Bakari and Baraka were no longer able to watch the happenings on Earth. They didn't run into Bakura when he went to the Afterlife, and Bakari only met up with Bakura and Wizard-Theif when he was reborn in the twenty-first century.

Bakari was knocked out of his thoughts by the arrival of Bakura. At once the smell of alcohol hit his nose, and Bakari realized that Bakura must have had a little bit more than he could handle. "Did you have fun down at the bar?" he asked.

The man just shrugged, and Bakari noticed how tired the man seemed. "I got into a drinking contest," Bakura said sounding oddly hopeless.

"Ryou and Masika are in their rooms," he told Bakura. "Ryou is probably asleep since it's," he looked at the clock, "five am, but Masika might be up. By the way, I see that you have tried out that sobering spell from the book."

Bakura shrugged. "It sorta happened while we were in your world. Masika and I had to get somewhere and couldn't wait for me to sober up. Can't even get a decent hangover now."

Bakari gave the younger man a confused look. "Hangovers are a good thing?"

He shrugged again. "Tell you when you hit your limit."

"If you remember it. So what's the deal with the sobering spell? Something go wrong and now you are level-headed while drunk?"

"I guess."

Bakari studied the man for another moment before saying, "What screwed up the spell, and will it work for me?"

"You never get drunk."

Bakari grinned. "Not at the moment. By the way, Masika is in her room."

Bakura nodded, and then seemed to make his way for his bedroom. Bakari watched him as the man went. When the man disappeared around the corner Bakari thought, "_Shame Masika always gets drunk before him._" A grin suddenly appeared over his face. "_Note to self, if this doesn't work out, tell Spidey to get Bakura drunk and keep Masika sober._"

* * *

Wizard-Theif lay on her bed thinking about how she could track Zorc down. After a while she grew tired with boredom and started to fall asleep. She fought it three times before sleep over powered her. When she awoke several hours later, she was surprised to see it was only a few minutes after five. "_I would have thought that I would have slept for much longer,_" she thought. "_Might as well go back to bed._" Before she could there was a knock on her door. "Come in," Wizard-Theif said before she really thought about it.

To her surprise, Bakura was the one who entered her room but there was something off about him. She wasn't really able to think about it because Bakura started talking.

"May I sit down?"

Wizard-Theif stared at him for five whole seconds before she processed what he said. Once she had, she replied, "Sure."

Bakura sat down on the edge of her bed and that was when Wizard-Theif realized why he seemed so off. She hadn't realized it when he had been over by the door, but now that he was closer she could smell the distinctive scent of alcohol. For some reason, she didn't feel threatened even though Bakura could easily overpower her.

Once he had sat down they were silent for a moment. Suddenly Bakura said, "Can I see your wings?"

Wizard-Theif didn't see the harm that could come from letting him see them. And if he did attack her, she could use them to protect herself. She removed her jacket and felt the wings stretch in their sudden freedom. It felt so good to let them move about after years of hiding them under a coat that she couldn't help but smile.

Bakura also smiled, but she noted it was a happy smile that was almost drowning in sadness. "I haven't seen you like this in a really long time, Masika," he said slowly and sadly. "You're always mad or upset when I'm around. Why are you like that?"

For a moment, Wizard-Theif almost thought of his voice as wise but she corrected herself. "_He just sounds older and more sincere. He also seems really sad though. I always thought that Bakura just got more aggressive when he was drunk. I never thought that he acted more like his age,_" she thought. It took her a moment to realize he had asked a question. "Pardon?" she asked.

Bakura gave her a sad smile again before it disappeared from his face. "I was just wondering why you're always so upset when I'm around."

"It's really none of your business," Wizard-Theif quickly said. Drunk or not, she wasn't going to say anything personal in case he remembered it when he became sober.

He sighed. "I suppose not, but I have something to show you." He started rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and Wizard-Theif saw that his arms were completely covered in scales. "It's not just my arms any more. There's a bit on my neck now too," Bakura murmured.

Wizard-Theif's eyes widened in curiosity. "How come you have them?"

The man shrugged. "Part of my curse, I suppose. Every time I transform back into a human, they cover more of my body. Soon I doubt even the cloaking spell will be able to keep it hidden."

"When **are** you human?"

"From midnight until six am and from noon until six pm. The rest of the time I'm in my snake form. You have a curse too, don't you? Your magic is weaker."

For a moment, Wizard-Theif couldn't do anything but stare at Bakura. He stared back, waiting for her answer and she realized something. His eyes had changed also. Not the colour but the emotion behind them. When Bakura was sober his eyes were more lively and there wasn't a well of sadness in them. Now that he was drunk Wizard-Theif saw that his eyes were wiser and more mature but also a lot sadder. She had totally forgotten about Bakura's question until he asked,

"What is it?"

"A bat," Wizard-Theif muttered before she could stop herself. When she realized that she had been staring at him she quickly looked away from him, her face red. "_What the hell is wrong with me?! It's just Bakura!_" she mentally yelled at herself.

Bakura didn't seem to notice as he nodded. "That suits you. Any idea how to break the curse?"

Wizard-Theif shook her head. She decided to give up not talking to him, but she promised herself as soon as things got more personal she could clam up. "Not really. All I can think of is the stereotypical kiss, but I don't really want to try that because I don't think I really like princes," she said with a grin as she tried to make a joke.

Either Bakura didn't notice that she was joking or he didn't care because he nodded again. "Makes sense. I don't think I would like to kiss a princess. Too much make-up."

Wizard-Theif was unsure what to say to that so she remained quiet.

Bakura appeared thoughtful as he looked at her. "All that make-up just ruins their face. You're much prettier than a princess."

Wizard-Theif felt her face heat up some more as she looked away again. "No, I'm not," she said quickly as she thought, "_Damn it. Why am I acting like this? You must be able to get drunk just from smelling alcohol now._" She was so caught up in her thoughts that she missed Bakura frowning. When she turned to see Bakura's reaction, she noticed that he had moved closer to her. He was staring at her as if he was studying her. Their faces were inches apart. "Ba-Bakura?" she stammered.

"You're right," he said finally in his soft and sincere tone. "You're not much prettier, Masika. You're far prettier."

Wizard-Theif glared at him. "No, I'm not," she repeated.

"You're beautiful. You don't give yourself enough credit. You know that?" He leaned in closer.

Her eyes widened, and words failed Wizard-Theif as she tried to stop him. "Bak…"

Their lips were mere millimetres apart when he whispered, "Sh… I'm not going any farther than this. Don't worry, Masika. I'm not Jean. Just think of it as an experiment to see if a kiss from the King of Thieves will break the curse."

Before Wizard-Theif could think of anything to say he kissed her. It only lasted a second or two, and Bakura pulled away only a little slower than he had moved to kiss her. He didn't say anything as he stood up and headed for the door. When he got there he turned around and said, "I probably won't remember any of this when I'm sober so if the curse isn't broken, tell me about it again. I'll help you."

Wizard-Theif could barely understand and couldn't even speak. She managed a small nod. Bakura gave her a small smile and then left the room, leaving Wizard-Theif to her thoughts. For a moment she sat in shock and slowly was able to process what had just happened. And the only thing she could think was 'Were a drunk man's words really a sober man's thoughts?'

* * *

**A/N: First attempt at a kissing scene (I think it was better than my attempt in SIWSM though). Man that was annoying. It was impossible to get them even talking. And then the kiss? Ah! Anyways, I own much thanks to L.A for betaing. So Spidey? Are you happy? They finally kissed. If you're not, oh well I tried and there is still more fun stuff to come. Happy birthday, Spidey and to all the readers please review before you move on to the next chapter.**

**-WT**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: When life gives you apples make apple pie, right? So what do you do when life hands you a shovel? One of life's many mysteries. Anyways, here's chapter ten.**

_Disclaimer: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Jean, and Wizard-Theif._

* * *

"I bet that when you return from the trip you'll be rooming at our house because of a fight, and within a week you and Bakura will be in the same bed." She never thought it was possible but she was rooming at the house. How long before the second part happens?

* * *

Chapter 10

A threat is worth getting angry over.

When Wizard-Theif awoke up the next evening she was disappointed to see that she was still a bat. "_Well, what did I expect? This is real life. Not a silly fairy tale,_" she thought. The next second she transformed into a human. With a sigh, she was about to move from the bed when she suddenly felt a chill. Acting on instinct, she pulled the covers closer to her naked form. To her horror, a man walked through her window. Her horror grew when she realized who that man was.

"You never really struck me as that sort of girl. I thought you had better morals. I suppose it was with Bakura. Wasn't it?" Zorc said with a smirk on his face.

Wizard-Theif's emotions changed from horror to sickening disgust faster than would be considered healthy. Suddenly her eyes and hair changed colour signalling that Jayanti had taken control again. "What do you want Zorc?"

His smirk disappeared and was replaced with a business-like frown. "We have to hurry things up. We have less time than I thought. Her friends are starting to catch on and our home-world is moving into position."

Jayanti frowned. "Fine. Let me get dressed first then."

"Hurry up."

Jayanti was about to get out from under the covers when she realized Zorc was still looking at her. "Pervert!"

Zorc rolled his eyes and turned around.

Once Jayanti was dressed, she folded her arms and spoke to her partner. "Okay, you said that we don't have much time left. Well, we're here and from what I've heard the boy is out so let's just get the book."

Zorc nodded without turning and walked towards Bakura's room. Finding the book only took seconds, but when Zorc went to grab it, a small flame appeared over the cover. He pulled back his hand and muttered a curse as he clutched his burnt hand.

Jayanti stepped forward with a smug look. "Looks like this need a woman's touch."

Zorc glared at her. "If you want to try, be my guest, but don't think you are safe in the owner's flesh."

Jayanti shrugged and reach out. The flame appeared again but there was no burn to be seen on her wirst though Jayanti cursed in pain.

Zorc let her swear for a moment before saying, "There is a spell on it. It won't let any of our kind touch it except for the creators or who the creators allow."

Jayanti groaned. "It looks like we'll need to convince him to hand it over."

Zorc smirked. "Don't worry. I have the perfect plan, but I will need to complete some… errands before we can act."

Jayanti crossed her arms. "And what am I supposed to do while you're doing this?"

"Confuse the girl as much as possible. I'll be back to check on her later."

Jayanti looked like she was going to argue but paused. She finally nodded. "Fine."

Zorc nodded and moved to Bakura's window. "Get back to the girl's room and release her. Make sure that she doesn't remember me appearing before her."

"_How did I get here?_" a wide-eyed Wizard-Theif asked as she looked around the room from her place by her closest. "_I could have sworn that I was on the bed…_" A flash of horror covered her soul before it was covered with confusion. Shaking her head, she noticed the movement in the mirror and saw that she was also dressed. With a sigh, she put a hand to her starting to ache forehead. "_This lack of magic must be messing with my head. I don't even remember getting dressed._"

For a moment, she looked around the room wondering what to do. Her eyes fell on her coat and then moved to the window where snow was lightly falling. Deciding to go for a walk, she slipped on her coat and wrote the men a note so that they wouldn't worry. She left it on her night table and headed out the front door.

After wandering for a while she found herself back in the alley where she had met Zorc. Thinking slightly illogically, she decided to look for clues about what had happened between Zorc knocking her out and Bakura finding her as a bat. She looked around for a few moments and was about to leave when someone entered the alleyway.

"Looking for me?" the someone asked.

Wizard-Theif turned to face the person and unconsciously moved into a fighting position. "Zorc," she growled. Though the alley behind her was open, she made no move to run.

He smirked. "Did you have a nice nap?"

"What did you do to me the last time we were here?!"

His smirk grew. "Are you really sure that you want to hear the details when I can show you all over again?"

Wizard-Theif tried to hide a shiver. "You knocked me out with some sort of spell," she accused.

Zorc shook his head. "Why would I knock you out when someone could do it for me?"

She frowned. She didn't like the way that Zorc was grinning. Her eyes widened as she remembered her recent memory lapses. "Jayanti," she whispered before glaring at Zorc. "You're trying to bring her out again, aren't you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

Her glare intensified. "What are you two planning!?"

He smirked again. "Actually it's all your idea."

Wizard-Theif stared at him. "What?"

"Silly little Masika." He took a step towards her as she took a step back. "Don't you remember? You summoned me."

She gritted her teeth but made no further movements out of the alley. Why did she feel a sudden stab of guilt even though she knew she was innocent of the charge? "I did no such thing. If you were summoned it was by that witch that is merged with me."

His smirked widened. "So you admit to summoning me?"

Her eyes narrowed making her glare more threatening. "That's not what I-"

He took another step forward. "You admitted that 'that witch' is merged with you therefore she is you."

Her face started to feel as hot as her temper. "No she isn't."

Zorc's smirk grew as Wizard-Theif's face slowly turned red. "Really? Would you like to explain?"

"Stop twisting all my words around!" she shouted as her hands clenched. Her limbs twitched as she longed to throw a punch.

Zorc gave her a mockingly confused look. "Who says that I'm twisting your words around? I'm just asking some simple questions."

Wizard-Theif took a deep breath and unclenched her fists. "_I can't win in any sort of fight with him,_" she told herself. "_I need answers. I need to be calm. I need control._" Her face slowly returned to her normal skin colour as she struggled to cool her temper. "Zorc, did you or did you not put a spell on me?"

Zorc gave her another amused look. "I did."

"What was the spell designed to do?"

"Why don't you look in that wonderful book that Bakura and you have? It should be able to tell you."

"Zorc," she said threateningly.

He started to chuckle. "You don't have any magic left, and you still try to sound threatening. It's ironic."

"What is?" Wizard-Theif demanded as she subtly took a step back.

He didn't notice. "You **were** best friends with the Thief King of Egypt and yet you act more like the Nameless Pharaoh."

Wizard-Theif gave Zorc an amused look. "As you said, I **was** best friends with the Thief King of Egypt, but I was also friends with one of the 'Nameless' Pharaoh's priests. Do the names Mana and Mahado ring a bell?" She noticed the look of hate that flashed from Zorc's eyes when she mentioned the Pharaoh's priests. A small feeling of happiness appeared in her when she realized she had found a weak point. "It must be difficult to have your plans not only foiled by a fifteen year old boy but by also the dead souls of his priests. I bet those Dark Magic attacks really sting the flesh when from a master spell caster, but it must hurt the ego to be hurt by a **mere** apprentice. "

The flash of hate only lasted a second after Wizard-Theif's verbal attack. When it passed Zorc merely looked annoyed. "We'll continue this conversation at a later date. Until then, happy dreams."

Before Wizard-Theif could question Zorc about his odd choice of parting words, she was grabbed on the shoulders and turned around. She came face to face with an enraged Bakura.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

Wizard-Theif looked at him in confusion. "Taking a walk. What does it look like?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone!? Do you have any idea how worried-"

Wizard-Theif groaned. "I left a note. It was on my night table. Besides, you can't have been all that worried. I've only been gone for an hour."

Bakura glared at her and seemed to fold back into himself.

Wizard-Theif gave him an unimpressed look. "You guys didn't see the note," she stated dryly.

Bakura glared at the wall and put his hands in his pockets. "There wasn't any note when we looked, and Bakari was about to have a mental breakdown again when he saw that you weren't at the house."

She crossed her arms as she glared at him. "Why were you so worried?"

"Ryou was worried too."

"Again, I asked about you not Ryou."

He shrugged and avoided her eyes. "One letter off."

"It's can be spelt R-Y-O too, Bakura."

Again he shrugged. "Fine. Two letters off depending on your spelling."

She threw up her arms. "Agh! Look. I'll go back to the house."

A look of happiness crossed Bakura's face when he was successful in changing the subject.

"After I do something first," Wizard-Theif finished saying.

His look of happiness became one of curiosity. "Like what?"

She shrugged. "It's nothing."

Bakura smirked. "Good, then I can join you."

Wizard-Theif gave Bakura a weird look. "Are you drunk again?"

He gave her a confused look. "No, why?"

"Because you're acting like you are," Wizard-Theif said before she remembered last night. A light blush covered her face, and she avoided looking at Bakura.

Luckily, he didn't notice. "How would you know? You can't even remember how I acted the last time I was drunk," he said as he followed Wizard-Theif out of the alley.

Her blush quickly disappeared and was replaced with an angry look as she forced the memory out of her mind. "That was not my fault! The Ra-damned bartender put more alcohol in my drinks than you."

Bakura smirked again as he pulled his hand from his pocket as they started to walk out of the alley. "You keep telling yourself that."

Wizard-Theif was about to make a comeback when she noticed a piece of paper fall from his pocket onto the ground. Bakura was about to pick it up but Wizard-Theif beat him to it. There was writing scrawled on it, but before she could read it, Bakura said quickly and guiltily, "That's mine."

An amused grin appeared on Wizard-Theif face as she held it out of his reach. "Can I read it?"

For a moment Bakura hesitated. He considered letting Wizard-Theif read the note but knew that the contents would worry her. He debated both arguments before making up his mind. "No." Wizard-Theif pouted, and Bakura couldn't help but feel bad. "_Damn older brother feelings,_" Bakura thought.

She looked at the paper out of the corner of her eye. "What's it about then?"

"Stuff."

"About?"

"Just give me the Thoth-damn piece of paper!" Bakura said as he tried to grab it. Unfortunately, he slipped on the ice and fell on top of Wizard-Theif. He grabbed the note and gave her a triumphant smile. She glared was about to push him off when they heard laughter. They both looked over to the entrance to an alley to see a snickering Malik.

"Wow… Bakura, if you're going do that at least do it in a locked room," Malik said.

Bakura blushed and said, "It's not what it looks like!"

Malik winked at them. "Sure it wasn't. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone."

Wizard-Theif was also blushing and pushed Bakura off of her. "Malik, Bakura's right. He slipped on a patch of ice and fell on top of me," she quickly tried to explain.

Malik nodded with a wide grin. "I know. It's just fun to imply things between you two. Did Bakari give you Elena's message?"

They shook their heads as they stood up. "No."

His eyes widened a bit. "Oh. Well some guy came to Mossnose's and Agape's place looking for you."

Bakura's eyes narrowed. "Did he tell them his name?"

Malik nodded, a bit confused by the glare Bakura was giving him. "Yeah. It was something French. Jean or something like that. Why?"

"_Damn it,_" Bakura thought.

Wizard-Theif gave Malik a fake smile. "It's nothing."

He looked between the two and then crossed his arms. "Okay, what are you two not telling me?"

Bakura sighed. "Doesn't Spidey need your help with something?"

Malik shook his head. "No. Elena is babysitting the kids while I go Christmas shopping. Oh. Speaking of that, Wizard-Theif, Elena and the kids want to know if you want to room at our house."

Wizard-Theif shook her head.

Malik nodded with a knowing look before turning to Bakura with a slightly concerned expression. "Bakura, can I talk to you for a second?"

Bakura shrugged and followed Malik into the alley while Wizard-Theif disappeared into one of the stores.

When they reached the middle of the alley, Bakura stopped walking and turned to Malik. "Okay. What did you want to say?"

Malik sighed. "Two things. One, how did **you** manage to slip on a patch of ice?"

Bakura frowned. "You make it sound like it's impossible for me to slip."

The mortal Egyptian shrugged. "I always thought it was. So why did you slip?"

"I was distracted. I was trying to get this," Bakura held up the piece of paper, "away from Masika when I slipped."

"And two, you both know that Jean guy, don't you?"

Knowing that there would be no way to get rid of him Bakura told the truth. "Yeah, he worked at hotel Masika and I stayed at."

Malik nodded. "So, is he a stalker? Or another evil spirit from the past that we have to warn the others about?"

Bakura shrugged. "I don't know, but what I do know is that cobra poison has no effect on him."

Malik gave him a wide-eyed look. "How did you figure that out? Where did you get cobra poison from? And, how did you get it over the border?"

Bakura couldn't help but smirk as the memory of Jean's pain appeared in his mind. "Let's just say he got a little too personal with Masika, and he paid for it."

Malik stared. "What did he try to do? Rape her?"

Bakura fidgeted.

Nodding, Malik said, "So what's the note all about?"

With an amuse glare sent Malik's way Bakura said, "I thought you only wanted to ask two things."

Malik shrugged. "It all ties into the two things. So what is it about?"

Bakura also shrugged. "It looks like Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but it's all gibberish to me."

Malik took the note from Bakura and muttered an Egyptian curse. "No wonder you didn't understand. This penmanship is horrible. I can't even tell if that's a Sa-loop (**1)** or an Ankh (**2**)."

"What's your best guess then?"

Malik reread the paper before handing it back. "I'd have to say it's a threat. Something along the lines of, 'Protect the one you treasure most. She won't be yours for long'."

Bakura frowned. "So the usual?"

Malik nodded. "Only a lot worse. Look at the hieroglyphs at the bottom. Does the name ring a bell?"

Bakura nodded. That was the only part of the note he had actually understood. Staring at him with bold hieroglyphs was the name of the being he had come to hate the most. The being known as Jean.

* * *

(1) The sa-loop is the hieroglyph for protection.

(2) The ankh is the hieroglyph for life.

**A/N: Wow… this was short but you didn't see that coming, did ya? I love the ending of this chapter. Seems so much like Zorc and then 'Jean'. Anyways, thanks to L.A, and happy birthday Spidey. Please review before moving on to the next chapter.**

**-WT**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: All-nighter! Yay! This story will be over soon! Double yay! And then I won't have to make up random excuses to avoid writing TAT. Then I can just tell the truth again. Triple yay!**

_Disclaimer: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Wizard-Theif and Zorc's daemon. Spidey owns Spidey, Natsuko, and Giglimesh; Mossnose owns Mossnose; Yu-Gi-Oh, and Yu-Gi-Oh characters are owned by Kazuki Takahashi; Harry Potter and other related characters are copyrighted by J.K. Rowling._

* * *

"I bet that when you return from the trip you'll be rooming at our house because of a fight, and within a week you and Bakura will be in the same bed." She never thought it was possible, but she **was** rooming at the house. How long before the second part happened?

* * *

Chapter 11

Notes, Books, and Dragons, Oh My!

"Well, I'd say the best thing we can do is keep an eye on Wizard-Theif," Malik said as he and Bakura discussed the threatening note from Jean.

Bakura nodded. "But I don't think we should tell the other girls. You know how they can overreact."

An amused twinkle appeared in Malik's eyes. "Oh, I know." Suddenly his face became thoughtful. "Doesn't it seem odd though?"

A young boy started screaming about ghosts while Bakura gave his friend a glance. "You mean that Jean knew how to write Ancient Egyptian?" He nodded. "Yeah it was strange. Maybe he used a translator off the Internet."

The mortal Egyptian shook his head. "Not even the Internet could know the proper grammar to use. Once I got over the horrible penmanship, I noticed the grammar was perfect, as if this guy was an Ancient Egyptian."

Bakura frowned. "What are you suggesting, Malik?"

He shook his head. "I don't know but this seems a little **too** weird for the enemy to be a normal spirit."

"'Too weird'?"

Malik sighed. "Bakari and Masika are the only full Prodigiums on Earth, right?"

Bakura nodded. "Now that Zorc is gone."

"And a normal spirit needs to possess a body in order to communicate with the living, right?"

He nodded again.

"The only bodies a spirit could posses are human ones, and humans are affected by cobra poison."

Bakura frowned. "So you think that Jean isn't human or a spirit?"

Malik nodded. "I don't see how he could be. It could be a spirit possessing a demon but I doubt it."

Bakura sighed. "It doesn't really matter though, does it? We know that this guy is after Masika for some reason, and we'll just have to make sure that he doesn't get what he wants."

"What does he want anyways? In the note he just said, 'Watch over the one you treasure most. She won't be yours much longer'. Which is Wizard-Theif, right?"

Bakura didn't even stop to think about what he was going to say. "The guy tried to rape her, remember?"

Malik nodded but said, "But he might not actually want her though. It might have just been something to scare her."

"But what would that do?"

The men's eyes both suddenly widened. "Jayanti!" they said.

Bakura slapped his hand to his forehead. "How could I have been so stupid!? Zorc may be gone but Jayanti isn't."

"And the seal is linked to Wizard-Theif's emotions. I'm willing to bet that with that sort of stress the seal would explode," Malik added.

"Why would Jean want Jayanti out and about though?" Bakura asked.

Malik shrugged but at the same time looked worried. "How about we just protect Wizard-Theif so that we don't have to find out?"

Bakura nodded as he started to walk out of the alley. "Sounds good."

Malik grabbed his arm. "Before we run off and be heroic, should we tell Wizard-Theif about Jayanti?"

Bakura shook his head. "At this moment, she thinks that the spirit is gone. It would be cruel to tell her otherwise."

Malik nodded and then looked around. "… Uh… did you see where she went?"

Before Bakura could reply, the men heard a scream. They traded a glance and then ran into the store where the scream came from.

* * *

While the men talked outside, Wizard-Theif went into the nearby bookstore. She wandered around the adult fiction aisle for a while before going over to the children's section to look for a book for the chibis. Her eye fell on a book about ghosts but she decided against it. Spidey would skin her alive if Wizard-Theif so much as brought a ghost plushie into her house. Something about giving the chibis nightmares. It was ironic though because if the chibis saw something ghost related they would beg to have it. Wizard-Theif understood where Spidey was coming from though. The chibis were evil enough without having ghost minions to help them with their evil plans.

Wizard-Theif continued looking for a book for the chibis and soon found one. She was about to head back over to the adult fiction when a small boy ran over to her and hid behind her. For a moment she stared at him, trying to remember where she had seen him before. When he looked up at her begging her to let him hide, she had it.

"Harry?" she muttered just to be safe.

"Dudley wants to kill me," Harry said.

Wizard-Theif looked around trying to locate the homicidal child for a moment. When she spotted him she pushed Harry in front of her with one hand. "Keep walking forward. He won't be able to see you from where he is," she muttered.

Harry nodded and let her guide him into the adult fiction aisle. When they got there, Wizard-Theif kneeled down in front of Harry. "Why does your cousin want to kill you?"

The little boy looked frightened to death. "I don't know. I was just grabbing a book when one fell on top of Dudley. He just blamed me and started chasing me."

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Can't your aunt or uncle do anything?" she asked even though she had an idea of what the answer would be.

Harry shook his head. "Dudley will tell them I threw it at him."

At once Wizard-Theif felt the strong desire to go give those parents a piece of her mind but before she could she heard a child screaming about a ghost. Even with her magic levels at virtually nothing, Wizard-Theif could tell when trouble was going to show up.

"That's Dudley!" Harry said.

"Harry, you have to go back to your uncle and aunt now. Things are going to get really crazy around here. Okay?" she told the young boy.

Harry nodded. "Okay." He gave her a hug and then ran off to find his uncle and aunt.

Wizard-Theif stood up and looked around. "_Trouble always seems to show up whenever I want to see it least and I'm willing to bet that it's Zorc. I hope that Bakura and Malik get in here before he shows up though,_" she thought as she wandered back to the children's aisle where the screaming child had been. Before she got there a giant purple dragon with red eyes blocked her way. Though it should have never been able to fit inside the narrow walkway, somehow the laws of physics had changed allowing it to somehow fit. Just in front of the dragon was a man with his nose buried in a book; his face hidden from view.

Wizard-Theif wasn't sure what to do at that point. The dragon had already seen her so if she ran the dragon might give chase and run over the man reading. Or she could move forward and see what would happen. Before Wizard-Theif could make up her mind a high-pitched scream came from behind the dragon. The man reading the book looked up, saw the dragon, and petted it. Wizard-Theif stared at the man in shock, before she got her head into gear and tried to run. The dragon was faster than her though, and it easily blocked her path again. Before she could come up with another plan, a voice cut into her thoughts.

"I told you you'd see me wherever you go," the man said.

"Zorc," Wizard-Theif muttered as he lowered the book showing her his face.

In his Jean form, Zorc smiled. "Of course, who else? What do you think of my daemon?"

"It matches you perfectly," Wizard-Theif forced herself to say through gritted teeth. She had to play for time. Once she had enough power gathered she might be able to blast him but that was a very big might. "How are you in this world?" she asked the monster.

Zorc smirked. "When you're friends from the ancient past got bodies so did I. Your brother isn't the only one with connections you know."

Her eyes narrowed. "The Immortal Council?"

He nodded. "Yes. They still want you dead and this world destroyed, you know. They don't even care if they have to ask a darkness incarnation to do. Or two for that matter. It's odd though, I would have thought Bakura would have kept a better eye on you after what happened with Jean."

As if Zorc speaking his name was his cue, Bakura appeared at the entrance to the aisle just behind Zorc. Malik joined him within seconds.

Bakura glared at the man in front of him, not knowing who it truly was. "What the hell are you doing here?" he growled.

Zorc smirked. "Well, it looks like I'll have to run."

He pulled a hand gun out of his pocket and shot at the lights. The group ducked as the lights exploded. When they looked up, Zorc and his daemon were gone. For a second Wizard-Theif sighed in relief.

"Well at least he's gone," she muttered.

Bakura, on the other hand, wasn't as relieved. "What the hell is going on Masika? Why did that guy have a daemon?"

Wizard-Theif was about to give him an angry reply when Malik said, "Let's ask questions later. The cops are coming."

The two immortals stopped glaring at each other long enough to get out of the building. Once they were out, Malik went to go tell the police what happened leaving Wizard-Theif and Bakura alone.

Bakura sighed. "What's going on?"

Wizard-Theif took a deep breath. "First, I'm cursed just like you… sorta. I don't have scales or anything, but I turn into a bat every morning and stay that like from dawn till dusk."

Bakura's eyes widened in shock. "How did you know about the-"

She glared at him. "Shut up and let me talk. That guy had a daemon because he is a Prodigium, and he can change his appearance."

He frowned. "I thought that the only Prodigiums here were you and Bakari."

"Zorc was that guy."

Bakura looked at her like she was nuts. "That's impossible! He's dead. Atemu already took care of him twice!"

Wizard-Theif shook her head. "Apparently the Immortal Council managed to make the gods give him a new body."

Bakura paled. "Oh my-"

"Yeah."

"How long has he been going after you?"

"Just after I quit the play, which is also when this curse first showed up. I don't know what is going on but he is planning something with Jayanti."

"Knowing him it can't be good news and with you without your powers…"

"It's a recipe for disaster." She nodded. "I know."

"There has to be link between your magic loss and this curse. It must be like a side effect. I'm growing scales, and you're losing magic. Zorc must know you feel vulnerable without your powers so he is trying to make you break the seal that keeps Jayanti locked up," Bakura thought aloud. He caught sight of Wizard-Theif's worried face. "Don't worry. I not going to let him near you, and I'll help you try to break the curse."

"Well kissing is out," Wizard-Theif muttered in the language of the Prodigiums.

Bakura gave her a confused look. "What was that?"

Wizard-Theif realized her mistake. "Nothing."

Bakura gave her a searching look. He was about to say something when Malik came back with a slightly victorious smile on his face.

"Okay. I talked with the cops and they are going to look around for that Jean guy."

"Malik, I need you to go warn Kaiba that Zorc is back."

Malik gave Bakura a mortified look. "What?!"

"Zorc. Is. Back," Bakura repeated.

"How?!"

"He got a new body just like me and Atemu," Bakura explained.

Malik frowned. "So why do I have to do warn Kaiba?"

"Because he might actually believe you. I know Atemu-"

"Won't believe you, Bakura," Wizard-Theif cut in.

Bakura glared at her. "He will too when he sees that I'm not kidding."

Malik just shrugged. "Okay, I'll try. Is there anyone else to warn?"

"It might be good to have the whole gang know," Wizard-Theif said. "Just in case Zorc changes targets."

Bakura nodded. "Malik you have to tell Kaiba, because there is no way that he'll believe me and tell the girls while you're at it. Masika and I will tell Atemu so he can pass the message on."

Malik shook his head. "If Zorc is after Wizard-Theif you should get her home A-S-A-P. I'll tell Pharaoh Atemu. I'll have a better chance than you do of convincing him."

"How did you know that Zorc is after Masika?"

Malik gave him a 'you-are-really-slow' look. "I'm a dad. It's my job to read between the lines. One day you'll know what I mean." Before Bakura could get mad, Malik had started running to where his car was.

"Jerk," Bakura muttered before he sighed. "Come on. We'd better get home."

Wizard-Theif followed Bakura. After a while she said, "Sorry about dragging you back into all this."

He shook his head. "If I wasn't and found out about all this later I would kill you for not dragging me into it."

"You're lovely," she said sarcastically.

Bakura sighed. "I'm your guardian so you'd better get used to dragging me into stuff again."

She frowned. "Still, how do you think the others will take it?"

"I'm willing to bet that Ryou won't be very happy."

"Can you blame him? After being possessed by that thing?"

Bakura nodded. "So you know about Jayanti not be gone for good?"

Wizard-Theif glared at him. "Obviously."

"How come you still remember everything if Jayanti has been possessing you?"

Wizard-Theif shrugged. "As far as I know she's only possessed me once since I got the curse on me. As to how I still remember everything, no idea. I remember waking up after the possession in my bat form with a major headache and not being able to concentrate, but when it went away I still knew who everyone was and stuff."

Bakura nodded. "We'll have to take a look in the book when we get back to the house."

Wizard-Theif suddenly stiffened. "Bakura. You're going to have to take a look in the book."

He gave a look. "Why?"

"Zorc suggested that I take a look in the book so there must be something he needs in it."

Bakura nodded. "Okay but we have to get home first."

They didn't talk again until they got home and told Bakari and Ryou about Zorc. Ryou took it quite well while Bakari took the news that Zorc had been targeting his little sister a little less than well.

"Bakari! I'm fine! You're killing me with all your questions!" Wizard-Theif yelled when Bakari's questioning finally got on her nerves.

Bakari looked a bit hurt, but he understood Wizard-Theif's position. "Okay. Fine, but Bakura."

The man in question flinched when Bakari turned his glare towards him.

"If my little sister gets hurt you are getting hell from me, got it?" Bakari's eyes flashed blue for a second.

Bakura gulped and nodded.

Bakari seemed satisfied but still suggested that one of the men of the house share a room with Wizard-Theif.

"Bakari! I'm not a little kid! I can take care of myself!" Wizard-Theif yelled when Bakari suggested the idea.

"Against a human you can but Zorc isn't human. Even with your powers you wouldn't be able to fight him," Bakari pointed out.

"He has a point," Ryou said slowly.

Wizard-Theif glared at the youngest in the room. "Ryou! I thought you were on my side!"

"I am. I'm just saying that Bakari has a point."

"That means you're on Bakari's side."

"But I didn't say I agree with his point. I just said he has one."

"Give up," Bakura advised his reincarnation. "When she gets like that, there is no way you can win."

Ryou sighed and took his original self's advise. He turned his attention back to the fight between Wizard-Theif and Bakari. From what he could see Wizard-Theif was fighting a losing battle. Bakari wasn't to let her have the smallest chance of getting hurt if he could help it.

"Look. We both know that Zorc can break into a house just as good as Bakura can. We also know that he has kidnapped people before."

"Mokuba," Bakura fake coughed.

"And we know that if you share a room there is less of a chance of you getting kidnapped, especially if you are sharing a room with me or Bakura since both of us have powers. No offence Ryou."

The youngest in the room nodded. "None taken."

Wizard-Theif sighed. "I still don't get what all the fuss is about. The only time Zorc has ever attacked me is when I'm alone-"

Bakari cut her off. "See! That is why you should share a room with one of us."

"When I'm alone and walking around the city!" Wizard-Theif finished.

"Bakura, you are to escort Masika wherever she goes now."

"Damn it," Wizard-Theif muttered as she placed her head in her hands.

"Why me?" Bakura asked at the same time.

Bakari glared at him. "Because I'm busy and Ryou doesn't have any magic."

"I have work to go to!"

Bakari gave him a searching look. "That capital place fired you, and the bar gave you Christmas holidays off. What other 'work' do you have to go to?"

Bakura was silent but it was apparent that both the guardian and the guarding were angered by the situation.

After a moment, Wizard-Theif sighed. "Okay. Let's say, hypothetically, I did share a room with someone, who would that be?"

"Bakari," Bakura said.

"Bakura," Ryou and Bakari said at the same time.

"Ryou!" Wizard-Theif and Bakura yelled.

Ryou nervously grinned. "Sorry."

"Look," Bakari said. "Out of all of us, Bakura is the only one who knows what to look for when someone is breaking in. His powers are both Prodigium and shadow magic. Zorc also uses both of those so Bakura would be able to put up a good fight no matter what kind of magic Zorc uses. Bakura also has the biggest room."

"But what if Jayanti takes over or something?" Wizard-Theif pointed out.

Bakura looked a bit annoyed. "I've gotten stronger Masika. I think I can handle her now."

She glared at him. "You may have gotten stronger but not **smarter**. If I recall correctly, she tricked you and then attacked you. What if she does the same thing again?"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Her eyes narrowed. "I managed to do that without powers at the gym!"

He glared back. "That was a non-magic fight!"

"So?! I still tricked you!"

"That was the first time **you**tricked me!"

Bakari stepped between the two. "Okay. So it's decided. You two will share a room."

The two stared at him in shock and appal. "What?! But- Bakari!" the two said at the same time.

He shook his head. "No buts. You two need to work on your friendship, and this is a perfect opportunity."

Both of them knew they were beaten. Wizard-Theif crossed her arms and pouted, muttering about him cheating on the bet, while Bakura just glared at Bakari.

Bakari seemed unaffected and just grinned as he went to find a cot. As he left the room, he muttered to his sister, "I don't need to cheat to win."

After a few attempts, they got a cot into the room, and Bakari and Ryou left just minutes before Bakura transformed. Once he had, he slithered over to the cot and lay down.

Wizard-Theif gave him a confused look. "I thought I was sleeping on the cot."

Bakura opened one eye and pointed at his bed with his tail, clearly indicating that she was to sleep on his bed. He curled into a more comfortable position and then fell asleep.

Wizard-Theif went to the washroom and changed before coming back and laying down on Bakura's bed. She had thought about moving Bakura onto his bed and taking the cot but she didn't like the idea of getting bitten. She had also thought about just sneaking back into the spare room but Bakura would notice when he woke up. So she settled down for the night. Within seconds she was asleep and dreaming.

* * *

**A/N: Ok. It's 4:01 in the morning. I need sleep. I'll write more tomorrow… or today…? Anyways, Thanks to L.A, and Happy birthday Spidey. Please review before moving onto the chapter.**

**-WT**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Wow… Now that I missed my deadline I'm really writing. I'm averaging almost a chapter a day now. TREASURE PLANET! Sorry about at that was watching DMV (Disney Music Videos) while writing a small bit of this chapter.**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Wizard-Theif, Jayanti._

* * *

"I bet that when you return from the trip you'll be rooming at our house because of a fight, and within a week you and Bakura will be in the same bed." She never thought it was possible, but she **was** rooming at the house. How long before the second part happened?

* * *

Chapter 12

A Prodigium Never Forgets… Or Does S/he?

Bakura awoke minutes after midnight, a new habit of his. He found that if he slept while he was a snake, he was livelier when he was a human. Habit wasn't the only thing that woke Bakura. Just moments before he transformed, he could have sworn he sensed someone using magic. He looked around his room before for any signs of a spell. The only one he could find were from the spell book, which always was giving off a unique magical signature for some reason. After he completed his search and found no threats, he got dressed and considered going to get something to eat.

He was about to leave the room when his brain started working, and he remembered the threat of Zorc. For a moment he stood there undecided until Wizard-Theif awoke. She rubbed one eye with the back of her hand and looked at Bakura.

"What time is it?" she said in a groggy tone.

"Just after midnight," Bakura replied. "You hungry?"

Wizard-Theif nodded and followed Bakura to the kitchen. While they were getting something to eat Bakura had to try hard not to laugh. Wizard-Theif kept opening the wrong cupboards and staring at the contents for a moment before she realized what she was looking for wasn't there. When she finally found what she was looking for, she joined Bakura at the table.

As he ate some toast he asked, "You aren't really all here when you first wake up, are you?"

Wizard-Theif took a sip of some decaf tea. "If everything is in the same place wherever I go, I'm all here, but it's not so I'm not." She suddenly clutched her head.

Bakura leaned over the table to look at her face. "You okay?"

She grimaced. "Just a headache."

Bakura frowned. "Do you want some medicine?"

She shook her head and winced. "Nah, I'll be going back to bed in a moment. There isn't any point." She removed her hand from her forehead. "I'm okay. Don't worry."

He nodded and leaned back as he ate some more toast. After a little while Bakura said, "Is there anything Zorc told you that you didn't tell us?"

Wizard-Theif took another sip of tea. "He said something about 'happy dreams' and I think he put a spell on me while I was possessed."

Bakura noticed tears in her eyes as he put his empty plate in the sink. "Masika, if your head hurts that much you should take some medicine."

"I'm fine," she muttered as she got up from the table. She started to make her way back to Bakura's room, but before she even got two steps, she clutched her forehead again. A whimper escaped her as she started to crumble.

Bakura quickly rushed to her side and helped her remain standing. If he wasn't already worried, the tears that started coming from Wizard-Theif eyes would have made him. "Does it really hurt that badly?" he muttered, worried that a louder tone would make the pain worse. Without waiting for an answer, he started walking her back to his room.

They were just in about to enter the hallways that led to the bedrooms when Wizard-Theif completely collapsed. Bakura caught her and called for Bakari and Ryou. Both appeared quickly, and Bakura quickly explained what had happened. Bakari quickly ordered Bakura to lay Wizard-Theif on the couch in the living room. Once he had done that, Ryou pointed to Wizard-Theif's wings. Their usual ink black colour was fading to a dull gray. Both the younger boys looked to Bakari for an answer, but he didn't give them any. Instead he put one of his hands in front of Wizard-Theif's face, muttered a spell, and snapped his fingers.

Wizard-Theif's eyes opened a second later, but her wings remained gray. She looked around the living room and saw the men there. "Wasn't I just in the kitchen?" she asked quietly, pointing the way she had come.

Bakura nodded. "Yeah, you collapsed."

For a moment, she stared at him and then said, "Who are you?"

Bakura just stared at her, his jaw slack. The shock was so great it felt like a car had just crashed into him while something else stabbed him in the heart.

Ryou stepped forward. "You know who I am right?"

Wizard-Theif nodded and gave Ryou a confused look. "You're Ryou and he's," she pointed at Bakari, "my brother, Bakari. So who is he?" She pointed at Bakura.

Bakura started to tell her when Bakari put a hand over his mouth. "This is just our house guest," Bakari explained with a grin. "He just arrived and is staying for a visit. He and I have to have a quick talk." Without waiting for an answer from Wizard-Theif, he dragged Bakura into the kitchen. "Why doesn't she remember you?" Bakari asked once he was sure Wizard-Theif couldn't overhear.

Bakura shook his head. "I don't know. One second she is complaining about a headache. The next she is collapsed."

"Has anything like this every happened before?" Bakari demanded.

Bakura sighed. "She said she got a really bad headache after Jayanti possessed her just recently."

"Does Masika usually lose her memory when she gets possessed?"

"I don't know. I guess so because she didn't recognize me when we first met after Jayanti attacked me in the tomb."

"What about when Jayanti possessed her back in Japan after all that trouble with the shadow games?"

"She remembered everything she had forgotten before."

Bakari nodded. "Stay here," he ordered Bakura as he left the kitchen. The next second he was back with the spell book. "Okay, you said that she was possessed?" he asked as he flipped through the pages.

"Yeah." Bakura suddenly remembered what else Wizard-Theif had told him. "She also said that she thinks Zorc put a spell on her while she was possessed."

"Eureka!" Bakari said triumphantly as he pointed to a spell. "This is the spell Zorc must have used. It was originally used to delay the side effects of a possession, like Masika's memory loss. Baraka and I improved it so that the possessed would be free of any and all side effects."

"So we cast this spell on Masika, and she'll remember me again?" Bakura asked. Somehow the plan sounded too simple and easy to actually work.

Bakari nodded and then frowned. "But I don't think Masika will be able to handle contact with the spell."

Bakura gave the Prodigium a frightened look. "What do you mean?" he said slowly.

"If she had started using her stored magic that means that she is running dangerously low."

"'Stored magic'?"

"Her wings." When Bakura still looked confused, Bakari clarified. "Masika is running really low on magic, much lower than what is considered healthy. A Prodigium's wings are basically magic stored up for an emergency. Her subconscious realized that it didn't have enough magic to sustain life so it started using the magic from her wings, thus changing the colour. I wouldn't worry though. Her wings aren't getting any lighter so she's got enough magic for the time being, but if her wings fade some more try to give her some of your magic."

Bakura nodded and said, "So how are we going to do the spell then?"

"I suppose we'll just have to take the risk. If the spell goes according to plan she'll be able to gain some more magic as well," Bakari said as he made his way out of the kitchen.

Bakura followed and watched as Bakari told Wizard-Theif that he was going to be casting a spell. He didn't tell his little sister what the spell did, but she didn't seem to care. Once Wizard-Theif had agreed, Bakari muttered something to Ryou, and the young man nodded.

"Okay then, let's get cracking," Bakari said as he charged his magic.

Bakura frowned at him. "Are you sure you can still do spells? You haven't used any magic for over 5000 years."

Bakari gave him a grin. "Actually I used some just recently. I went Lightning and talked some sense into the girls."

Wizard-Theif gave Bakari a worried but also bored look. "What was the damage to their sanity?"

Bakari frowned. "Well they aren't dead but they sure were mad when I came to."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Gee, I wonder why," he asked sarcastically.

Bakari suddenly grinned which was never a good sign. "Oh yeah! Bakura, you'll have to support Masika for this spell."

Wizard-Theif gave her brother a searching look. "Support as in what?"

Bakari just rolled his eyes. "When I mean support, I mean he'll just stand behind you so that if you fall he can catch you."

"And you expect me to trust him," she pointed at Bakura, "to catch me when I will most likely fall?"

Bakari grinned evilly. "I assure you, Masika. Bakura would catch you any day that you fall, right Bakura?"

"She trusts Ryou so why don't you make him do it?" Bakura asked.

"I don't have Prodigium magic, remember?" Ryou quietly said.

Bakura glared at the boy. "Traitor," he muttered as Ryou gave him an innocent grin.

Bakari also answered Bakura's question. "This spell is very dangerous to people who don't have Prodigium magic, and if the other problem happens it's best that you're close by."

"Hang on, I thought we were the only Prodigiums here, and what is 'the other problem', Bakari?" Wizard-Theif asked with a slight growl.

"Nothing you need to worry about Masika." Before his little sister could speak again, Bakari quickly said, "Let's just get the spell done and then we can talk."

Reluctantly, Wizard-Theif got off the couch, and Bakura stood behind her. Ryou stood over behind Bakari and by the phone ready to call Atemu and Yugi in case they needed back up. Bakari stood about five feet from Wizard-Theif and Bakura. He started muttering words from the world of the Prodigiums, once he had finished he walked up to Wizard-Theif and poked her on the forehead. Her eyes flashed violet and then brown before returning to their usual colour. Bakari smiled when that happened but his smiled turned to a look of worry when he noticed her wings start to lose more colour. The look of worry turned to a look of horror when Wizard-Theif collapsed into Bakura's arms.

"What's going on?" Bakura demanded to know.

"I… I don't know," Bakari muttered.

"How can you not know? It's your spell!"

"Nothing like this as ever happened before. It must be because of Jayanti."

"What do we do then?" Ryou asked. His eyes were wide with fear.

Bakari looked back at his little sister. Her wings weren't the only thing getting paler now, even her skin was losing colour. "Bakura, we have to do a transfer."

Bakura nodded and pulled Wizard-Theif closer to himself. He started muttering a spell and for a moment Bakari saw wings start to appear on Bakura's back. With a sigh of relief, Bakari realized that the transfer was working the way it should. Slowly the wings became more defined, and Bakari saw that one was a red bat wing that was so dark it was almost black and the other a light blue angel wing. A red tint had also appeared in Bakura's eyes as he stared at Wizard-Theif.

Ryou had also noticed the wings and asked Bakari about them.

"In order for the transfer to work the two people have to be in the same form. Masika's in her Prodigium form so the spell is making Bakura return to his Prodigium form as well."

Ryou continued to look confused. "Why does Bakura have a Prodigium form if he isn't a Prodigium?"

"He went to our world when he was younger, and because of the rules of reality in our world, he had to transform into another form or be liquidated."

Ryou was silent for a moment. "I thought that Prodigiums were transparent though."

Bakari grinned. "Actually we're translucent but that's only in our world. If we aren't in our world, we are just as solid looking as any other person."

Ryou nodded and turned his eyes back to the transfer. Wizard-Theif's wings were gaining colour again, and soon the transfer was complete. Once it had been completed Bakura's wings disappeared as did the red tint in his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Bakari asked.

"Tired," Bakura replied as he sat down against the wall with Wizard-Theif still in his arms.

"You can take a nap once an hour is up. The same goes for Masika when she comes to."

Bakura groaned. "Damn it Bakari. Why that long? I just transferred at least three quarters of my magic. I think I should be able to take a nap as soon as I want."

Bakari sighed, knowing full well the outburst that was going to happen. "That's why you can't take a nap. Transferring magic and giving blood are two different things. No matter if you are a Prodigium or a human, after you transfer magic, even a small amount, you run the risk of falling asleep and never waking up. It's like a concussion. If you sleep you probably will never wake up because your mind is too magically drained to keep your brain working."

Bakura gave him a disbelieving look. "Even a small amount?"

Bakari shrugged. "Magic is weird like that."

Bakura growled but surprised Bakari by not freaking out. "Okay, fine. But why can't Masika fall asleep once she wakes up?"

"Being awake is the only way her body can absorb the magic."

"Her wings are already back to normal, though," Ryou pointed out.

Bakari nodded. "That's because Bakura doesn't do anything by halves. He went all out and almost drained himself completely."

"Falling asleep here," Bakura said. "Maybe some heavy metal music will help."

Ryou glared in his direction and for a second it was like looking in a mirror. "We are not getting a noise complaint from the neighbours again Onii-chan," he said sternly.

Bakura frowned. "_I'm not your older brother,_" he thought as he said, "You take all the fun out of life. Anyways, Bakari, you said something about her body only absorbing magic while she is awake."

Bakari sighed. "You managed to give her enough magic so that her magical stores were mostly full again. If you look closely you'll see that her wings aren't the same colour as they were before. And the reason she still has to remain awake is because even though she has magic in her system and her wings, her body hasn't changed the signature to match hers yet. To do that she has to be awake and just like Bakura she'll run the risk of falling asleep and never waking up."

"Stupidly twisted rules of magic," Bakura said as he shook his head.

Bakari glared at the man. "Hey, I didn't make the rules."

Bakura grinned. "I sure as hell hope not. If you had everything would be even more complicated."

"There is one other thing." Bakari paused and grinned at the face Bakura was giving him. It looked like a child having a list of "what not to do" read to it.

"What now?" he whined.

"Masika can't leave your arms for two hours." Bakari started laughing at the face Bakura gave him. His eyes were as wide and dinner plates and his jaw was slack.

"You can't be serious!" Bakura yelled.

"Actually he is," Ryou said as he handed Bakura the book. "See Baraka's handwriting?"

Bakura frowned as he read though the note. "Damn it."

Bakari gave the two a confused look. "I was just kidding around about the arm thing," he said.

"Well Baraka sure isn't," Bakura growled. "He has a warning in the book about having people with bonds transfer energy. 'Because of the transfer, the bond will become unstable and may cause the spell to start draining the Prodigiums' energy. To avoid this, the two Prodigiums must remain touching for at least two hours after the spell has happened. Remaining in each other's arms is highly suggested,'" Bakura quoted from the spell book. He handed Ryou back the book and muttered, "Stupid bond."

"What bond?" Bakari asked.

Bakura sighed. "When we were little, Masika told me about this magical sort of bond that some Prodigiums have. She said that it was usually formed when the Prodigiums were either life partners or if they have similar magical signatures. Apparently we have this bond."

Bakari's face lit up when he realized what Bakura was talking about. "Oh! That's the bond where if one casts the spell the other one is the only person who can reverse it." His face became confused though as he said, "That's weird though. Yours and Masika's magical signatures are completely different, and you aren't life partners."

Bakura shrugged. "Everything is weird when we're involved."

"So what does all that mean?" Ryou asked.

Bakura glared at him. "It means I have to wait two hours to take a nap now."

Ryou was silent for a moment, his brow creased as he thought. "Not necessarily. It's just that when you take a nap you'll be snuggling," he finally pointed out.

Bakura looked about ready to kill his reincarnation. "You are so lucky that-"

"It's not all bad," Bakari said cryptically. "Ryou, can you go put the book back?"

The youngest nodded and quickly disappeared into the hall as Bakari sat down on the couch.

Bakura glared at Bakari. "Explain to me how this 'couldn't be all that bad'."

Bakari grinned. "The book said that you both had to be touching. It never specified what sort of position."

It took Bakura a moment to read in between the lines. Bakari couldn't help but grin as Bakura's face paled but at the same time became very red.

"What kind of older brother are you?! Do you tell every guy to do that with your little sister, or am I just special?"

Bakari grinned even more as he said, "Do I need to answer that? Anyways, I can tell you really love her, and I'm not about to get in the way of true love."

Bakura looked unimpressed. "Okay. What drugs are you on Bakari?" He spoke again before Bakari could say a comeback. "On second thought, I'm getting out of here before you stop implying and start telling."

Bakari watched in amusement as Bakura pulled Wizard-Theif close as he stood up without the use of his hands. Ryou entered the room almost seconds after Bakura had disappeared around the corner. He came and sat down beside Bakari on the couch.

"Zorc wasn't part of the plan," Ryou said after a moment. "Do you think we should call it off?"

Bakari shook his head. "There's no point. We'll just have to hope that everything plays out in our favour." The man sighed and then muttered, "Who knows where everyone is at all times or where everyone is going in life. Who are we but mortals in the great plan of the worlds to come, and we all play a part in our own demise."

* * *

"I forgot again, didn't I?" Wizard-Theif asked weakly.

The two were sitting on Bakura's bed with the lights off since Bakura was too lazy to try to turn on the lights without his hands.

Bakura nodded. "At least you remember now," he said.

"Yeah." Wizard-Theif was well aware of Bakura's arms around her and was about to ask about it when a wave of fatigue caused her close her eyes.

"Masika, you have to stay awake," Bakura told her.

Wizard-Theif glared at him through half-opened eyes. "I'm tired."

"I know. Just stay awake for a little while longer. Okay?"

"Why do I have to stay awake?"

Bakura hesitated before he explained what had happened a few moments previous. When he had finished, Wizard-Theif was silent and then she swore for about a minute straight. The moment she finished Bakura asked, "What was all that about?"

"Jayanti. Something similar happened before we went into the tomb and before the possession in Japan," Wizard-Theif explained.

"Didn't she open a portal to Hell in Japan?"

"You would know, after all you're the one who stopped her from sending Mossnose and Spidey there."

Bakura nodded. "What allowed Jayanti to possess you anyways?"

"Spidey and Mossnose were chewing me out about picking fights. You already had your new body right?"

"Yeah, I was checking on Ryou when I sensed the shadow magic. Since I didn't think Atemu would get into any fights, I felt it would be a good idea to check it out."

Wizard-Theif nodded. "I guess we got lucky that time."

Bakura nodded and was silent for a moment. "Do you still have a burn mark from the sutra Spidey put on you to make you pass out so that the portal would close?"

Wizard-Theif turned in his arms so that they were facing each other. She moved her bangs to one side, and Bakura saw a faded scar in the shape of a rectangle on her forehead.

"Wow. Those papers really pack a punch," Bakura said. "How long ago was that again?"

Wizard-Theif moved back to her previous position with her back against Bakura's chest. "Let's see. The chibis are five now. Spidey was… was she twenty-four or twenty-three when she got married?"

"I think it was twenty-three."

Wizard-Theif nodded. "She was twenty when the possession took place so that was…"

"About nine years ago," Bakura told her.

"How time flies," Wizard-Theif muttered as she started to drift off.

Bakura frowned and pinched her. "Hey, if anyone should be tired it should be me."

Wizard-Theif rubbed her arm where Bakura had pinched her. "You're not the one with the evil spirit draining your energy."

"Baby."

She glared at him over her shoulder. "Excuse me? How am I the baby? You're the one complaining just because he transferred magic."

"I had to."

Wizard-Theif sighed. "You are so immature."

Bakura grinned. "I know, and just like you, I have tons of time to become mature so why waste time speeding up the process?"

"You are also annoying."

"One to talk."

"No, Kaiba is one to talk," Wizard-Theif said before muttering, "Stupid git not believing in magic."

"He does now," Bakura pointed out as he hid a yawn.

"That's beside the point."

"You just don't like him because he acts like High Priest Seth from Ancient Egypt."

"No, I just don't like him because he acts like Seth times two."

Bakura grinned and looked at the clock. "Well that wasted about fifteen minutes."

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Only forty-five more to go. So, what do we do now?"

Bakura shrugged. "I'm open to suggestions."

"I asked the question."

"Meh." For a moment Bakura almost closed his eyes but Wizard-Theif elbowed him in the gut thus stopping him. "What was that for?" he demanded.

"Nothing," Wizard-Theif replied with a dash of innocence.

"Yeah, right."

"I'm glad you agree… Do you still have your playing cards?"

Bakura shook his head. "Lost them and even if I did have them, what game could we play? I could just look over your shoulder and cheat."

"But you wouldn't do that."

"I said could, not would."

"How much longer?"

"Forty-four minutes to go."

"Damn it."

* * *

When Bakari checked in on them three hours later he was amused to see them asleep on the same bed. He was also amused to see that Wizard-Theif was still in Bakura's arms and that Bakura was holding her protectively close. A smile crossed Bakari's face. As he was closing the door he muttered, "Laureola."

* * *

Note: Laureola is Latin for victory.

**A/N: That was fun. (Sarcasm) Anyways, as always, thanks to L.A for betaing, and happy birthday Spidey. Sorry this was late. To all the other readers, please review before moving on. Thanks for reading.**

**-WT**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: If I ever write more stories with this pairing it will be a** **oneshot and not a whole Ra-damn story. At least it will be easier since the fountain has been dug.**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Jayanti, Wizard-Theif and the plot._

* * *

What truly is the worst punishment? Being forced to learn French? Going to all the spas in Paris? Sharing a room with the man you hate? Being cursed? Losing a bet, meaning that you have to tell that man your true feelings? Or being the cause of the end of the world? Uploaded all at once.

* * *

Chapter 13

It's so complicated, it might just work.

"Bakura? Wizard-Theif? It's time for dinner."

"_Dinner? But wasn't it just four am?_" Bakura slowly thought as he came to consciousness. He raised himself with one arm and looked towards the closed door.

"Better let them sleep some more Ryou. They're probably still worn out from the transfer," came Bakari's voice from behind the door.

When Bakura heard the footsteps move away from the door to his room he lay back down again. He was almost asleep when he became aware of the person beside him. Bakura's eyes opened and he realized that he was lying right beside Wizard-Theif. He wasn't all that surprised or upset. In fact, though he wouldn't admit it, he was actually sort of happy. This confused him, but before he could really think about it Wizard-Theif stirred beside him.

"What time is it?" she groggily asked.

Bakura looked over at the clock. "Five pm."

Wizard-Theif nodded. "Bakura?"

"Yeah?"

It took a moment for Wizard-Theif to piece together what she wanted to say. "Uh… did we… fall asleep… together?"

Bakura tried to hide the blush that was covering his face as he sat up and looked towards the door. "How about some dinner?" he asked.

Wizard-Theif shook her head. "I think I need a walk."

Bakura stood up. "I'll come with you."

"No offence but I'd rather go alone."

Bakura frowned. "No offence back but did you lose your mind while losing your magic? Zorc is after you."

She avoided looking at him. "I'll be fine."

"You said it yourself that he tends to appear only when you are alone and outside."

"I'll be fine," Wizard-Theif repeated.

"And I say you won't."

Wizard-Theif sighed. She knew there was no way Bakura would change his mind… unless… "What if I ask Ryou to escort me? Then is it okay?"

He shook his head. "Ryou doesn't have magic."

"_Damn._"

"Why do you want Ryou to go with you?"

"_Good question_," Wizard-Theif thought as her mouth said, "Because I know that Ryou won't annoy the Hell out of me."

Bakura glared at her. "Fine. I'll call Yugi and see if he'll baby-sit you."

Wizard-Theif was about to retaliate, but Bakura had already picked up the phone and called Yugi. Moments later, they explained the plan to Bakari and Ryou. Bakura was to escort Wizard-Theif to the park where she would meet up with Yugi. Yugi would then take over and walk around with Wizard-Theif. When Wizard-Theif finally got tired of walking, Yugi would escort her back home. Bakari and Ryou approved of the plan, and once Wizard-Theif and Bakura were ready, they headed out.

They got to the park without a problem and met up with Yugi. For a moment all three of them talked about the play and its progress. Bakura left when they finished talking, and Wizard-Theif and Yugi started to walk around the park. Since the two didn't really know each other they talked about random things such as new games that were coming out, the weather, and how annoying Atemu could be. Wizard-Theif was happy to learn many things from Yugi that she could use as blackmail against the Chosen Pharaoh since there was no way he was going to let her forgot the play. She warned Yugi about her using the stories as blackmail, and Yugi even gave her permission to do so. There was a catch though, Atemu had to use shadow magic in order for her to do it. Wizard-Theif found this agreeable since Atemu was just as bad as her and Bakura when it came to using shadow magic. One day soon he would slip up, and she would have her fun.

An hour passed and nothing major happened. Yugi asked Wizard-Theif if she wanted a drink, and she shook her head. Since Yugi wasn't thirsty either they continued walking around the park. When a second hour passed, Wizard-Theif suggested heading for home. Yugi agreed and walked her to Ryou's place. Once they got there Yugi said goodnight, and Wizard-Theif suggested going out again the next night he was free. Yugi told her that he'd meet her at the park at four o'clock. With that Yugi left Wizard-Theif in the capable hands of her guardian.

Bakari met her inside the living room and told her that Bakura was in his room so if she wanted to go to bed she could. Wizard-Theif nodded and headed to Bakura's room. The first thing she saw when she entered was Bakura in his snake form on the cot. She nodded to it, her fear of snakes kicking in. Bakura nodded back, and Wizard-Theif lay down on his bed. She was asleep almost instantly.

The next time she awoke she was slightly disturbed to see Bakura staring at her. When questioned all Bakura said was that he was, "doing [his] duty as a guardian." Wizard-Theif decided not to start a fight for once and got ready for her walk in the park. This time Bakari escorted her to the park by car. On the way, they were silent until they stopped at a red light.

"You aren't mad at me, are you?" Bakari asked.

Wizard-Theif gave her brother a questioning look.

"For making Bakura look after you," he clarified.

She shook her head as the car started moving again. "Not really. It's just that sometimes Bakura gets so…"

"Over-protective?"

Wizard-Theif shook her head again. "Not over-protective. I don't know how to describe it."

Bakari sighed. "You really can't move on, can you?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's been five millenniums since that thing in the tomb, and you just can't seem to forget about it and mend your friendship. Don't you trust him anymore?"

Wizard-Theif flinched. "If I didn't trust him, I wouldn't be sharing a room with him."

"So why are you guys still acting like rivals? I mean, even Kaiba stopped trying to beat Yugi after a while."

"That's Kaiba. He and Yugi were never friends before they became rivals."

Bakari looked over at her before looking back at the road. "So it's a betrayal issue? Listen Masika, from what I can see Bakura has forgiven you for the thing in the tomb, and he knows it wasn't your fault. The only reason he fights with you is because you start it and his ego won't let him back down."

Wizard-Theif looked out the side window and sighed. "Just as the sun never meets the moon, sometimes people are just the same."

Bakari sighed. "I am never getting you those custom future cookies ever again." He pulled the car over to where Yugi was standing, and Wizard-Theif got out.

"Try to have her back for midnight, Yugi. She'll turn into a pumpkin if you don't," Bakari said with a laughed.

Wizard-Theif hollowly laughed. "See you later Bakari," Wizard-Theif said as she started walking into the park.

Yugi gave Bakari thumbs up and then followed her. Unlike the night before, both were silent. About half an hour into their walk Wizard-Theif suddenly sensed magic. She was just about to warn Yugi went she felt the effects of a spell wash over her. Her mouth was sealed and she felt as if she was being pulled out of her body by an invisible hand. Forgetting that her magic was gone, she tried to mutter a counter-spell that could purge her body of all outside magic. Her spirit felt pain as the spell tried to find magic to use. When it didn't fine any, the spell faded, leaving her vulnerable to the outside magic. With one last tug, she was ripped out of control, her body suddenly stopped walking, and she lost track of everything.

* * *

When Wizard-Theif suddenly stopped walking Yugi sensed an unfamiliar magical signature. "I think we'd better leave," Yugi said as he turned to hear Wizard-Theif reply. Suddenly he felt a sharp wave of magic cut into his skin. The wave disappeared before the magic cut too deep but the cut to his chest was long. He instinctually covered part of the wound with his hand as he looked at the Prodigium standing beside him.

Wizard-Theif's eyes had changed colour, and she was smirking. "Be a good boy, and give this to **dear** Bakura," she said as she handed him a piece of paper. "See you later."

Before Yugi could even take a breath, Jayanti turned on a dime and started running. Ignoring the pain of his wound, Yugi chased after her. As he ran he pulled out his cell phone.

"Hello?" Bakura said when he answered his cell phone.

"Bakura, it's Yugi. Get down to the park now. Jayanti is at it again," Yugi quickly told him.

Bakura didn't ask any questions and quickly ordered, "Don't lose her."

Yugi ended the call and put his phone back into his pocket. By some miracle he was able to keep up with Jayanti for a while. Unfortunately moments before Bakura showed up he lost her.

"Where is she?" Bakura asked when he ran up to Yugi.

He shrugged. "I don't know. One second she was in front of me. The next-"

Bakura looked around the alley. "Were there any sort of alleys she could have taken?"

Yugi shook his head. "See for yourself." He waved his arm to the alley around him. All there was were walls. No way to go but forward or backwards and no where to hide.

Bakura muttered an ancient curse. "Jayanti must have merged with the shadows."

"Sorry Bakura." Yugi looked crestfallen.

Bakura sighed and forced himself to calm. "It's not your fault. I forgot to warn you about the darkness trick."

"So glad to see you taking responsibility for your actions," Zorc said as he walked towards the men.

Bakura instinctually took a step back while both he and Yugi curled their hands into fists.

"What do you want?" Yugi demanded.

"I'm looking for my sister. Have you seen her around? From what I hear she has crimson eyes and is possessing the body of a Prodigium."

"Your sister is Jayanti?" Bakura hissed.

Zorc smirked. "So, you have seen her," he noticed the note in Yugi's hands. "Ah, you already have the note. Well, there is no need for me to stick around any longer. And Bakura, thanks for the trick." The next second Zorc sunk into the stones of the alleyway.

Bakura swore when Zorc disappeared. "Damn it. What was he talking about?"

"You mean the trick?" Yugi asked.

Bakura shook his head. "No, he got the ability to pass through stone from me when he was possessing me. It's Diabound's special ability that got passed on to me. What I'm talking about is the note."

"He must have meant this." Yugi handed him the note. "Jayanti gave it to me."

It only took Bakura a second to read, and he swore once he had. He handed Yugi back the note saying, "Go get Atemu and anyone else who you think could help. I'll meet you guys there." Without even giving Yugi time to reply, Bakura ran down the alley and got into his car.

As Bakura drove away, Yugi looked down at the note. He paled as he read it.

_Masika is under my power again as you no doubt already know. If you want to see her alive again, meet us on the top floor in the Tower of London with the spell book that was created by Bakari and Baraka of the Kanika clan._

_Love,_

_-Jayanti_

Without another thought, Yugi called Atemu at his house.

* * *

When Bakura got back to the house, he was dimly surprised that he hadn't been pulled over for speeding. Moving quickly he ran into the house, leaving the car running. He met Ryou in the living room. The younger man noticed the look of regret and fear on Bakura's face and was just about to ask about it when Bakura ran right by him.

"Jayanti is possessing Masika again. They want me to meet them on the top floor of the Tower of London with the spell book," Bakura explained as he grabbed the spell book and his sword that he kept hidden under his bed as a reminder of his past.

"The longer Masika is under Jayanti's control, the more she'll forget," Ryou said.

Bakura was about to run out to his car when Ryou grabbed him. The immortal turned to him and glared. "Ryou!"

"I know Bakari is going to kill me for this, but," Ryou pulled the book out of Bakura's hands. "There is a transportation spell right here. It would be faster than driving, and you don't have to worry about breaking the law."

Bakura nodded and took the book back. "Thanks… Ototo-chan."

Ryou nodded back, and Bakura cast the spell. The moment Bakura disappeared was the moment Ryou muttered, "Bes be with you and the others."

* * *

**A/N: Short chapter! I like this one though. Finally getting back to my original plan of following 'The Swan Princess' films done by Nest Entertainment. The ending of this chapter loosely followed the middle of the 3****rd**** one. Anyways, Thanks to L.A for putting up with me this long. Happy Birthday Spidey. To the readers, please review before moving on to the next chapter and thanks for reading.**

**-WT**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Ra. Spidey, you can be so annoying when I'm trying to find time to write this. Always telling me to write TAT. I hope you like this story or else I wasted my time. So this is the second last chapter, hope it's a good one. Also never been to Big Ben and couldn't find any blueprints so the layout is mostly fictional.**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Jayanti, Jayanti's daemon, Wizard-Theif and the plot._

* * *

What truly is the worst punishment? Being forced to learn French? Going to all the spas in Paris? Being cursed? Losing a bet, meaning that you have to tell that man your true feelings? Or being the cause of the end of the world? Uploaded all at once.

* * *

Chapter 14

"You keep falling for that fake Odette trick, don't you big guy?"

-The Swan Princess 3

When the spell was completed, Bakura found himself on the top floor of the Tower of London. He took a look at his watch. "_5:30, I don't have much time left before I transform,_" he thought as he looked around for a sign of Zorc's or Jayanti's presence.

Just above him in the rafters, Zorc and Jayanti watched.

"Well it looks like he came," Jayanti muttered in a whisper.

Zorc nodded. "We'd better put our plan into action before Pharaoh and his little friends get here," he whispered back.

Jayanti smirked and muttered a spell. Her hair and eyes changed colours to match Wizard-Theif's as she jumped down to the floor. She grinned when Bakura turned at the sudden noise. "_Time for the fun to truly start,_" Jayanti thought to herself as she waited for Bakura to walk by the shadows she was hiding behind. When he had she stumbled out from behind it and crashed into him. She noticed that Bakura stiffened at the sudden contact and was about to push her away when she looked up at him. When Bakura saw what colour the eyes were he seemed to calm down, and Jayanti was amused to see that he chose the hug method to support her.

"Bakura," Jayanti said in a weary voice.

"Masika? You alright?" he asked.

Jayanti gave Bakura a tired Wizard-Theif glare. "I just got possessed by Jayanti, what do you think?"

"How did you regain control?"

"Got lucky I guess, but that's the second time she's done that."

"Any idea what they are planning?"

She shrugged. "I'm guessing stereotypical destroy the world and for Jayanti to take complete control over my body."

Bakura shook his head. "Why do they want the book then?"

"Maybe there is a spell in it. Can I see it?"

For a second, it looked like Bakura was going to hand her the book, but at the last second he quickly changed his mind. "No offence but Jayanti might take control over you and steal it."

She nodded but frowned. "Shouldn't you be keeping me at arms length in case I have a dagger then?"

He frowned as well. "Good point but I'm not dead yet, and it doesn't look like you can stand on your own."

Suddenly Jayanti's face lit up with an idea. "Jayanti can only possess me when my emotions get really out of control, kinda like how you go Lightning."

Bakura nodded. "So?"

"So, as long as nothing happens to set me off I can read the book, right? Besides you don't really remember the written language of my world, do you?"

Bakura thought about that for a moment and then said, "Fine." He pulled out the book and handed it to her. She thanked him by jumping back with the book in hand as Bakura was blasted backwards by a spell cast by Zorc. Bakura ended up flying across the room until he hit a wall. When he hit, he coughed up a small amount of blood. He swore as he struggled to stand.

"I can't believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book," Jayanti said as her eyes returned to their pervious colour.

"There is no point waiting any longer," Zorc said as he looked down at them with a smirk. "Such a shame that **Pharaoh** Atemu couldn't be here to see this."

"Zorc!"

Zorc turned around in surprise to see Atemu and Yugi standing by the stairs. This didn't seem to worry Zorc though. In fact, he grinned. "**Pharaoh** Atemu so glad you could make it. And look, you've brought your hikaru as well. Did you bring any of your other friends too? I'm sure they would hate to miss the reunion."

Atemu looked around the room and quickly analyzed the situation. It was clear from the look on his face that he didn't like his chances of defeating Zorc. "This time I'll defeat you for good."

"Don't you mean, '**we'll **defeat you for good'?" Bakura asked as he struggled to remain standing.

It appeared that Atemu and Yugi hadn't noticed Bakura when they first rushed into the room since Yugi gasped when he saw Bakura's condition. Before anyone could move though, Zorc started merging with the stone wall around him.

"You'll have to find me before you can attack me. I'll give you fifteen minutes before I start the spell. Once I start the spell you'll have a minute to stop me."

"Coward!" Bakura yelled.

"Don't worry Bakura, we'll meet again in due time."

Before anyone could say anything more, both Zorc and his sister disappeared.

"Are you alright?" Yugi asked as he and Atemu ran over to Bakura's side.

Bakura walked over to meet them. "Compared to Obelisk's punch that was just a tickle."

"A tickle that makes you wince every time you walk," Atemu noted.

Bakura glared at him. "Let's just kick Zorc's butt before I kill you myself."

Before Atemu could say anything about that Malik appeared in the room. "Did we win already?" he asked as he walked over to the other men.

Bakura shook his head. "I wish. Zorc just made a run for it and says we have to find him in less than fifteen minutes."

"He also took Bakura's spell book and Wizard-Theif," Yugi added.

Malik's eyes widened. "And do you have any idea where he is heading?"

Bakura growled. "No, that coward didn't even give us any hints."

"Actually he did," Yugi said as he thought. "Think about it. He was talking about time virtually non-stop when he started the challenge."

"So you think he's headed to Big Ben?" Atemu asked.

Yugi nodded. "I think so. We won't be able to get there in less than fifteen minutes because of traffic though."

Bakura looked at Atemu who grinned. "Who says we're going the mortal way?" Atemu asked.

"Let's just hope Kaiba's holograms don't mind a dose of shadow magic," Bakura said as he summoned Diabound, his white snake/man looking ka.

Atemu nodded and put the Osiris the Heaven Dragon (AKA Slifer the Sky Dragon) card on his duel disk. In under a second, the huge, red and black dragon with two mouths appeared circling the tower.

When Bakura saw it he muttered, "Show off."

"We don't know if we'll be able to summon our monsters again once we enter the tower. It might be better if we all ride on Osiris though. Just so that you don't exhaust all your magic," Atemu said to Bakura.

Bakura nodded and climbed onto Osiris behind Malik who was behind Yugi. At once Osiris took off and started flying through the sky. Soon they came to the clock tower. Yugi spotted an odd glow behind the clock face that was facing towards the Houses of Parliament. Atemu had Osiris try to fly closer but the dragon was unable too. Bakura then suggested that Osiris drop them off on top of the clock tower and they climb down. At first the other men were a bit hesitate but when Bakura assured that if they fell Diabound would catch them, they agreed. Once Osiris had dropped the men off, they climbed down to the level just above the clock faces.

"Now what tomb robber?" Atemu asked. He was shaking from his near death experience since he had managed to slip. Luckily Diabound was able to catch him.

Bakura looked around. "There has to be a staircase or something here so that the workers can get from the clock to up here."

Yugi pointed to the middle of the room. "There."

Bakura looked at his watch. "Come on, we still have to find them." He and Atemu were suddenly blasted backwards and crashed into one of the pillars.

"Looking for me?" Jayanti asked as she stepped out of the shadows. Zorc followed, holding an unconscious person in his arms.

Bakura felt like he had just been punched by Obelisk when he realized the identity of the person Zorc was holding and how pale she was. He felt like he wasn't able to breathe when he noticed that Wizard-Theif's wings were almost ghost white.

"What did you do?" Yugi demanded to know as Bakura and Atemu slowly got to their feet.

Zorc smirked. "A bit of this, a bit of that, as well as destroying the seal, and stealing your friend's power." His smirk grew as he saw Bakura's eyes slowly start to change from lavender to light blue. "Oh and Malik," Zorc turned to face the blonde Egyptian. "I hope you left your family in capable hands. The Shadow Realm is always hungry for souls, you know."

Suddenly Zorc's hands were free. He turned around to see Bakura standing there with the unconscious Masika in his arms. The man's eyes were now as blue as a cloudless day. A second later Bakura was back with the group and had handed Wizard-Theif to his ka who started to transfer magic to the unconscious Prodigium. Zorc turned back to the group and noticed that Bakura wasn't the only one who had changed. Malik's and Atemu's magical signatures had also changed to a more powerful degree.

"It appears that they want to play," Jayanti said.

Zorc nodded. "If they want a game I'll give them a game. What are the rules, **Pharaoh**?"

Atemu glared at him. "Our stage is the clockworks just underneath us. We start at the bottom and work our way to the top jumping from gear to gear. If one of us falls off, we'll die. If you fall off, you're history, **permanently**. If one of us makes it to the top before you, you die. But, if you make it first, we die. No magic is allowed once the game starts." In the presence of his worst enemy, the pharaoh's voice had lost all feeling of caring.

Zorc grinned. "You sure you want to play that game against a Prodigium? Unlike you, I have wings." He removed his coat to make his point. Zorc suddenly felt an excruciating pain in his wings. He felt blood start to run down his back, and when he looked over his shoulder he saw Bakura sheathing a sword.

"Not anymore," Bakura said in a voice completely unlike his own. In his Lightning state, Bakura's voice was sinister and cold but also sadistically amused.

Zorc glared at him and said, "The game will start in five minutes." Then he and his sister suddenly disappeared.

A few moments after they disappeared, Bakura's eyes returned to their normal colour, and Wizard-Theif started to stir. At once everyone returned to normal, and Diabound laid Wizard-Theif on the floor. She sat up after a moment and looked around sleepily. "Let me guess. I got possessed again," she said.

The men nodded and Wizard-Theif sighed. "Damn it. Ok what was the damage this time?" she asked as she tried to stand up.

"Lay down before you kill yourself," Bakura told her. "Zorc just separated you and Jayanti and took most of your power."

Wizard-Theif muttered a curse in Latin before saying, "So what do we do?"

"**We** are going to fight Zorc in a Yami no Game in about three minutes. **You** are going to stay here until someone comes to take you back to Ryou's place," Malik told her in his strict-father tone.

"What!? Now hang on!" Wizard-Theif stood up and tried to ignore her headache.

"You're not coming," Atemu told her.

"The hell I am! I'm part of the reason Jayanti and Zorc are even here so I should be part of the reason that she gets lost. If Jayanti wasn't merged with me, Zorc wouldn't have been able to return to this world because the Immortal Council wouldn't be able to find me."

"You don't have any magic, and you can't even stand without swaying!" Bakura pointed out.

Wizard-Theif was about to yell a comeback at him when Bakura gave her a glare. At once she recognized it as the glare Baraka gave her whenever she wasn't behaving. She glared back but ultimately gave in to Bakura's demands. "Fine, I'll stay put," she said as she sat down.

"I'm leaving Diabound here to make sure that you don't do anything stupid," Bakura said as he and the others men walked towards the stairs to the clockworks.

"Fine," Wizard-Theif said with a pout on her face. Once the men were out of earshot she muttered, "Jerk."

"What did Bakura do this time?"

Wizard-Theif spun around and came face to face with Agape, Mossnose and Spidey. "So you are the 'someone' Malik was talking about?" she asked them. "And shouldn't you be with the chibis?" she asked Spidey.

"Kaiba is baby-sitting," Spidey explained in a hurt voice.

"You still aren't mad, are you? About the restaurant thing?" Agape asked.

Wizard-Thief crossed her arms. "_This just doesn't feel right. The guys are fighting a life threatening battle, and we're more worried more about our friendship than the fate of the world,_" she thought. For a moment Wizard-Theif was silent, glaring at the other girls. Suddenly she uncrossed her arms and tried to smile. "Not anymore. I can only be mad at one person at a time, and right now I'm mad at Jayanti."

"Speaking of that, is there a reason why Diabound is here?" Mossnose asked.

"Bakura said that he's here to make sure that I don't do anything stupid, but I think he meant to make sure that Jayanti doesn't attack me," Wizard-Theif said.

Agape gave her a confused look. "Why do you think that? Aren't you merged with her?"

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Not anymore. Zorc used some sort of spell from the spell book to separate me and Jayanti."

A voice came from the rafters. "You're not as dumb as you look."

Suddenly Diabound was in front of the girls and was hit with a blast of purple light. He used his Spiral Wave to counter attack, but another blast of purple light came from the opposite side of the room and hit him.

"_If Diabound keeps taking hits like that Bakura will-_" Wizard-Theif looked around the room for a hint of where Jayanti was hiding. "Show yourself!" Wizard-Theif shouted.

Suddenly the evil Prodigium appeared right in front of Wizard-Theif. They stared at each other until Jayanti started trying to kick and punch Wizard-Theif. For the first few kicks and punches Wizard-Theif was able to dodge, but then her headache kicked in making it harder and harder to concentrate. Luckily before she could get too banged up, Spidey threw a sutra at Jayanti. Wizard-Theif used that second of pain to aim a punch at the incarnation's jaw and then a kick to the gut.

Unfortunately, Jayanti's evil aura overpowered Spidey's sutra causing the woman to go flying. When that happened, Jayanti kicked Wizard-Theif in the gut sending her flying. Wizard-Theif hit the floor and bounced a few times before coming to a stop. She clutched her stomach as she waited for the pain to pass. Jayanti wasn't going to give her time though. The incarnation walked over to where Wizard-Theif was laying and started kicking her in her side. Jayanti was blasted aside by Diabound's Thousand Poison Fangs attack.

"Diabound," Wizard-Theif muttered through the pain as she stood up. "I've got this one. Go help out Bakura." Part of her was disappointed when Diabound remained where it was but part of her was also happy. Her happiness was cut off with another painful blow to her midriff. This time she crashed into a pillar and coughed up a bit of blood. "Ow," she muttered as she wiped the blood off her lip. "_Ok… Maybe I don't have this one,_" Wizard-Theif thought as she tried to dodge Jayanti's attacks.

"Agape, on my signal, get Wizard-Theif out of there," Mossnose commanded as she transformed into her cat form. In her demon cat form, Mossnose was not only able to change size, but she also had white with brown and black patches of fur. A green patch was around her nose, and she had sparkling green eyes. At that moment, Mossnose was about the size of a lion.

Agape nodded and ran over to where Wizard-Theif was still trying to dodge. She watched as Mossnose pounced on the incarnation and bit down on her shoulder. When Jayanti yelled in pain, Agape helped Wizard-Theif up, and they got behind a pillar.

"Damn it," Wizard-Theif said as she looked out from behind the pillar. "If only I had my magic."

"I know how you feel," Agape said as she watched Mossnose bite the incarnation again.

Wizard-Theif clutched at her shoulder and growled, "We have to do something before she opens a portal to Hell just like in Japan."

"What do you suggest?"

Wizard-Theif's eyes fell on Bakura's sword that lay just by her feet. "_He must have left it here,_" she thought as the pain in her shoulder grew. It almost felt as if someone was biting her. Suddenly she had an idea. "Agape, punch me."

The girl looked at her friend in horror. "Have you lost your mind!?"

"Do it!"

Agape closed her eyes and punched Wizard-Theif in the gut. At once the Prodigium kneeled down, clutching her stomach. At the same time a cry of pain came from Jayanti.

"What the hell?!" Agape asked.

Wizard-Theif grinned at her through the pain. "I thought so. Jayanti is still connected to me. We can attack each other without any pain, but if someone else attacks one of us, we both get the pain."

Agape stared at Wizard-Theif, mortified. "So that means Mossnose's biting…"

"If I survive this, I'll probably have scars. Tell the others to back off, **especially** Diabound."

"What's your plan?"

Wizard-Theif picked up Bakura's sword. "To kill and not be killed. My backup plan is to wait until Jayanti opens the portal and then push her in."

"You're crazy!"

"As Captain Jack Sparrow would say, 'If I wasn't this probably would probably never work.' Besides, I've defeated the Immortal Council. Jayanti can't be much worse."

"You had magic and Bakura's help back then!"

Wizard-Theif shrugged. "I didn't have fighting skills back then though. Just tell the others to back off because I've never actually used a full length sword before."

"Masika!"

"It can't be all that different from a dagger," Wizard-Theif assured her friend. When Agape still look worried Wizard-Theif said, "Look. If you don't die, I won't die. Deal?"

Agape nodded and went to tell the others of the plan. For a moment after she left, Wizard-Theif closed her eyes and tried to calm down. She was almost calm enough to think straight when a scream broke through her thoughts. Wizard-Theif ran out from behind the pillar to see Mossnose bleeding heavily and not moving. "Jayanti!" she shouted. "Leave them alone."

The incarnation turned to face her. "Still trying to deny your destiny, Masika?"

For some reason Wizard-Theif couldn't help but laugh. "What destiny? I've already played my part in this universe. The only reason I'm still here is because no one has had the guts to kill me yet."

"I'll have to change that but first..." Jayanti turned back to Wizard-Theif's friends. The incarnation braced her feet into the ground, and her aura began to increase.

At once Wizard-Theif realized what she was going to do. "Spidey! It's the portal, get a barrier up and tie yourselves down!"

The woman nodded and quickly moved to where Agape was tending to Mossnose. Concentrating, Spidey used her powers to make a barrier that would ward off the powers of Hell for a little while. Using the power she gained from a cursed rock Wizard-Theif gave her when they first met; Spidey caused spider webbing to come out of her wrist and used it to tie everyone down.

To Wizard-Theif's growing annoyance, Diabound was stubbornly hovering in front of her. "Diabound! I know Bakura gave you an order, but I'm sure he needs you more right now. I'll be fine, but if you stick around you won't be," she shouted at him.

Jayanti seemed amused by the conflict before her. "If you really want him to leave so badly, I could be of service."

"You stay out of this," Wizard-Theif growled as she turned her glare towards her look-a-like.

The incarnation shrugged. "While you're fighting with your friend's daemon, I'm going to have some fun." Suddenly a hole appeared in the air and inside the hole was only darkness. Jayanti turned to the barrier and smiled. "Now which one, which one?" she sang.

"Diabound! Just get lost!" Wizard-Theif yelled as she tried to run around him. Unfortunately, Diabound kept blocking her path. Finally Wizard-Theif couldn't take it. "I'm sorry," she muttered as she raised the sword. She swung it and made a cut in his snake tail. While Diabound was surprised Wizard-Theif ran around him and towards Jayanti.

He was going to follow her when a pink western-style dragon appeared before him, blocking his way. For a moment both daemons faced each other before the pink daemon started attacking. With no other choice Diabound attacked back and left Wizard-Theif to fight Jayanti on her own.

"So we're finally getting serious," Jayanti said as Wizard-Theif ran toward her. "I think I will too then." Suddenly the air inside the barrier turned dark.

Wizard-Theif stopped a step away from Jayanti and stared. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"My spell is turning the air to darkness. The darkness will enter their lungs, and they will die. I wonder who will die first."

"You… Seth-damned… Bitch!" Wizard-Theif yelled as she swung the sword at Jayanti.

* * *

"Bastard!" Bakura yelled at Zorc as he felt the dagger cut into his skin.

"We both knew he was going to die someday," Zorc said. "Unfortunately for him, someday was today."

At that moment Bakura would have loved to have his sword but he had left it on the floor above them. As he tried to dodge another of Zorc's dagger attacks, he hoped that Atemu would hurry up. He wasn't going to last much longer. Between Zorc's attacks and whatever was happening with Diabound, Bakura didn't have much strength left.

The game had been happening for about twenty minutes, and they had already lost Yugi. And now Malik had just fallen off the gear after being pushed by Zorc. Atemu had yet to show up at the gear where Bakura and Zorc were fighting. In fact, Bakura wasn't even sure if Atemu was still alive. All it took was one miscalculation while jumping, and you would die.

Bakura dodged another dagger and jumped up onto another gear. There were only five more to the top, but the distances between the gears were getting larger. Deciding not to risk it, Bakura started running and jumped. Unfortunately as he was landing on the next gear one of Zorc's daggers sliced his leg in passing causing him to wipe out. Bakura didn't waste any breath or time on swears. He couldn't hope to knock Zorc off so his only chance was to make it to the top. Blood was pouring out of the numerous cuts on his chest but Bakura was glad to say that the scales that had been appearing on his body worked brilliantly as armour.

His breath was coming out in gasps as he reached the gear that was third from the top. Bakura paused for a second to look over his shoulder. "_Still no Atemu. What the hell is taking that guy?_" Bakura thought as he tried to get some more oxygen into his aching lungs. Suddenly Bakura found himself on his back near the end of the gear. Zorc had one foot on Bakura's chest and was putting most of his weight on it.

"So, **Great** Thief King," Zorc said. "It looks like today is the day you die again."

Bakura glared at Zorc. "I don't think so," he told the evil Prodigium.

"Even as an immortal you act like you are in control when you aren't." Zorc put pressure on Bakura's chest, and the Egyptian was sure that his ribs were going to break.

Suddenly Bakura saw a flash of red, black and yellow behind Zorc and a smirk worked its way onto Bakura's face. "You're one to talk. I'm not the one who got my butt kicked by a fifteen year old pharaoh **twice**."

Zorc glared at Bakura. "I was going to left you die painlessly, but I think I've changed my mind."

Bakura saw Atemu standing behind Zorc, hands out stretched and ready to push. "Like I'm going to let you kill me," Bakura said. Suddenly Bakura turned over causing Zorc to lose balance. Atemu then pushed Zorc off the edge. One second Zorc was standing there, the next, he was hanging on to the edge of the gear.

Bakura stood up and grinned. "Let's send him for a trip," he suggested to Atemu.

The pharaoh nodded. "I hear Hell is lovely this time of year."

Without another word, they stomped on the part of the gear just near Zorc's fingers causing him to fall. For a moment both listened to the sound of Zorc yelling curses at them. When that stopped both looked at each other.

"I think we'd better hurry to the top just in case he can still fly," Atemu suggested.

Bakura nodded and without another word they raced to the top. When they got there both looked at each other but neither smiled. The price of their victory weighing in their hearts.

"We'd better go see if the girls picked up Masika yet," Bakura said.

Atemu nodded. "And then we'll have to get you bandaged up. I think you might have your scar back."

Bakura looked down at himself to see that he was covered virtually head to toe in his own blood. He moved his hand to his face to feel the familiar sting of a cut. "Well at least, people will stop thinking I'm Bakari or Ryou," Bakura said in an attempt to lighten the mood. They both laughed half-heartedly and then opened the door to the next floor.

Both were shocked by their surroundings. In the middle of the room was a lake of blood which two bodies were laying in and another one was kneeling and crying. When the men walked over to the lake of blood the crying person turned to them and they saw that it was Spidey. Even as she looked at them she didn't bother to wipe away the tears.

"Where's Malik and Yugi?" she asked.

Both men were unable to answer. In that silence, Diabound flew over from a corner. Bakura was dimly surprised to see his ka looking as roughed up as he was. The ka seemed to be crying as it merged with Bakura.

Spidey seemed to go into shock at the silent knowledge of what happened to her husband.

"What happened here?" Atemu asked trying not to sound afraid.

"Jayanti… Jayanti did this," Spidey said before she started sobbing. Atemu hugged her. "She opened a portal and Wizard-Theif told me to put up a barrier. I did but then it filled up with smoke and we were choking. Mossnose was already dying from blood loss and Agape… Agape suffocated… Wizard-Theif fought Jayanti and… and pushed her into the portal… Wiz… Wizard-Theif fell in too… and everything disappeared and… and…"

"It's okay," Bakura told her as he tried to stop the tears. "It's not your fault." He noticed the book lying on the ground and picked it up. "_It's mine._"

* * *

**A/N: Be happy this is being uploaded all at once. I could have been evil and just said, 'I'll wait a week to update' but no. I'm too nice for that. Anyways, Thanks to L.A for betaing for this long. Happy Birthday Spidey (please don't kill me). And thanks to all you readers/reviewers. Please review before moving on.**

**-WT**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Last chapter and to those of you who are planning to kill me for the last chapter. Go watch The Swan Princess Trilogy or Yu-Gi-Oh, there's always a happy ending there. And please note: I'm **loosely** following The Swan Princess 3.**

_Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Wizard-Theif and the plot._

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What truly is the worst punishment? Being forced to learn French? Going to all the spas in Paris? Being cursed? Losing a bet, meaning that you have to tell that man your true feelings? Or being the cause of the end of the world? Uploaded all at once.

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Chapter 15

So Much for My Happy Ending

Holidays are supposed to be a time for celebrating but this year no one in the gang felt like celebrating. When Bakura returned home, he was dimly happy to see that no one was home. Slowly, he made his way to the washroom and took a shower to remove all the blood. After his shower, he pulled out the bandages. It took some time, but after a while he finally got himself all bandaged up. When he cleaned the blood off his face he noticed that Atemu had been correct about his scar. For a moment, he stared in the mirror and traced the cut on his right cheek. Just as in the past, the cut was a straight line down from his eye with two horizontal lines crossing over it.

Once Bakura was dressed, he realized that the scales that had been on his upper body had disappeared. It took him a second to realize that he had also not transformed that day. He would have felt happy if not for the reminding fact that some of his friends were gone for good. For a moment, tears ran down his face, but then he heard Bakari and Ryou enter the house. He quickly washed his face and headed out to meet them.

Before the other men could even ask Bakura about the bandages, Bakura quickly told them everything that had happened. He told them about his and Atemu's yami no game and the girls' battle. With his voice threatening to crack, he told them how Malik and Yugi died and repeated what Spidey had told him. When he finished, Ryou was trying to hold back tears, and Bakari was staring at him in shock and possibly anger. For a second, it looked like Bakari wanted to attack Bakura. It was as if he blamed him for the death of his little sister, but the second passed. Bakari went to his room and locked the door.

Bakura followed Bakari's lead and returned to his room as well. The second he entered, he felt tears start running down his face, and his cuts burned. He didn't care though because it didn't hurt nearly as much as his heart. Five people were dead because of him. Five people were never to see their friends or families again except from a distance because of his mistaking Jayanti for Wizard-Theif and giving her the book. Bakura sat down on his bed and allowed himself to cry. At six am he had managed to cry himself to sleep.

For two days, Bakura didn't see or hear from anyone due to the fact that he didn't leave his room. On the third day, Ryou came in with a tray of food. He was dully surprised to see the man sitting on his bed with his knees up against his chest. Bakura didn't even seem to notice Ryou when the man sat down on the edge of the bed.

Ryou sighed. He knew what Bakura was going through since he had lost his sister and mother in a car crash. "Starving yourself isn't going to bring them back."

Bakura didn't move to look at him. "I know."

"Bakura, it wasn't your fault."

The man winced at the sound of those words. "Don't try to comfort me, Ryou. We both know that it is my fault. If I hadn't been so reckless, they might still be alive."

Ryou looked at his original self as he forced the tears to remain hidden in his eyes. "We can't change anything now. What's done is done. We'll just have to try to move on."

Bakura turned his face away from him. "You don't understand Ryou. It's my fault."

Ryou glared at Bakura. "Zorc used me too, remember?"

Bakura sighed and stood up. He grabbed his winter coat and gym bag. "I'm going out to the gym. I'll talk to you later."

Ryou could do nothing but watch as Bakura walked out of the room.

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After the talk with Ryou, Bakura continued to go to the gym. Soon he was doing every day. He didn't see Bakari until the 23rd of December. That day, Bakura decided that instead of going to the gym, he was going to the park. Once he arrived there, he sat down on a bench and pulled out the spell book that was in his gym bag.

"I can't believe you did that."

Bakura looked up and came face to face with an enraged Bakari.

"How could you give that to him when you knew how dangerous he was?!" Bakari demanded to know as he clenched his fists.

At once the emotions that had been haunting Bakura since the battle with Zorc crashed down on him again making him feel numb. "I don't know."

Bakari's eyes flashed blue but returned to their normal colour a second later. Unable to stop his rage, Bakari punched Bakura knocking him off the bench and onto the snow covered ground. "What kind of guardian are you!? They died because of you!" Bakari yelled.

Bakura looked up at the Prodigium and glared through his tears as his eyes flashed blue. "You think I don't know that!? You don't think I regret that every single day! Bakari! You don't know what it feels like to lose everything that is important to you and then lose the person who is the only reason you kept your sanity all that time! So just shut up! And the girls weren't the only ones who died remember?! Malik, Atemu. They're gone too!" Bakura looked away and punched the ground. "Damn it! Why did I have to come back to life?! I always end up hurting people or killing someone. Damn it!"

Bakari was silent as Bakura started crying in anger. It wasn't until that moment that he truly realized just how alike Baraka and Bakura were. He had always known they were similar, but he never truly knew how truly alike they were. They suffered from more pain then they deserved and even cried the same way. Both thought that they only hurt people and were useless. Bakari felt his rage disappear and suddenly he remembered something Baraka had told him. He picked up the book and turned to the last page. Walking over to Bakura, Bakari held it out to the man who didn't even look at him. "Suck it up, baby." When Bakura didn't even get mad, Bakari forced himself to soften his voice. "Look, just take a look at this."

Slowly Bakura took the book and looked over the spell. "What is it?"

Bakari shrugged. "Baraka designed this spell on his own. He never told me why but I have the feeling that he knew this was going to happen. He was weird like that, but he was the only one who knew how to work this spell."

Bakura quickly read over the notes. "I can work this. I know how to work this." Bakura jumped up and looked at the Prodigium, his eyes determined and filled with hope. "Come on, we have to go."

Bakari nodded and followed Bakura to Big Ben.

"We have to get back up there," Bakura said as he pointed to the top of the clock tower.

Bakari nodded. "I've got this." Quickly muttering a spell, both men closed their eyes. When they opened them, they found themselves at the scene of the battle.

Bakura walked over to the staircase that lead to the clockworks and stood there. He braced his feet and started collecting energy from the space around him just like Jayanti had done. Slowly he started muttering the spell that Baraka had designed. The top floor and part of the clockworks beneath started to become cloaked in darkness. A strong wind suddenly kicked up and more than once nearly knocked Bakura off his feet. Part way through the spell, he realized that he still didn't have enough power, but it was too late to turn back. He was about to turn some of his life force into usable magic when Bakari started adding his magic into the mix. When Bakari added his magic there was a suddenly strike of lightning, and Bakura was blasted into Bakari. Suddenly there was a flash, signalling that the spell was finished as everything returned to normal.

When the flash disappeared, both men were completely zapped but smiling.

"I am never getting on your bad side ever again," Bakari said as he sat down.

Bakura remained standing and looked around. To his sadness, nothing appeared. "It didn't work," he muttered.

Bakari's grin grew. "I wouldn't say that."

Bakura looked at Bakari in confusion before he turned around and was glomped by Agape.

"Hey! If you want to glomp someone glomp your boyfriend, Bakari!" Bakura shouted in surprise and happiness more than anger.

"It's a hug not a glomp Bakura!"Agape corrected as she squeezed him tighter.

"Same thing!"

Agape didn't seem to hear him as he left go and went to hug Bakari. While she was doing that, Bakura noticed that everyone was back.

"I'm guessing we won," Yugi asked.

Bakura grinned. "Atemu, three. Zorc, zero."

"And one for the Thief King!" Malik shouted. He paused and seemed to study Bakura. "Hey, is that scar new?"

Bakura grinned. "Courtesy of Zorc."

"Hey! What about us girls?" Mossnose shouted.

"And one for the girls that are going to kill us if we don't congratulate them!" Bakari shouted.

Everyone started laughing, but Bakura and Bakari stopped when they didn't hear someone's laugh.

"Hey, where's Masika?" Bakari asked as he stood up.

Suddenly everyone's happy faces disappeared, and Bakura felt fear twist in his gut.

"She didn't come back with us," Malik explained with out looking at the two. "The spell didn't have enough power so she said she'd stay put and visit with Baraka."

"It's not fair that I'm the only one in our group who has lived for thousands of years without dying or being reincarnated," Mossnose quoted.

Bakura nodded, numb, while Bakari muttered that was just like Wizard-Theif. At that moment, Yugi suggested that they go tell everyone the good news. Everyone agreed, and they quickly left the clock tower. Soon the whole group knew the good news and wanted to celebrate except for Bakura. He ate something for dinner before going to his room. The next morning he went to the gym as was his custom.

He went to where the punching bags were to see that the room was deserted. This suited him fine since he wanted to concentrate without having someone ask him to spar. He started to practice different punches and tried to perfect his fighting style. He tried to concentrate on his fighting, but his mind kept drifting. "_I don't get it,_" he thought before he could catch himself. "_Why did she do that?_" Realizing that he wasn't getting anywhere trying to block his thoughts, he let them continue. "_I just wish I could talk to her._"

"Need a sparring partner?"

Bakura turned around but saw nothing. He realized it was just an illusion. He punched the bag as tears ran down his face. "Damn it!" he muttered. "I'm such an idiot! Damn it! Damn it! Why? Why did you have to do that? Why didn't I have enough power!? Why couldn't you send me a sign that I needed more power!? Why, Masika? Why, damn it!?"

"Jeez if you feel that way I'll just leave," a voice said in a joking manner.

Bakura looked up again and this time saw Wizard-Theif. For a moment, he was silent, not believing his eyes. "Masika?"

She nodded. "Hi."

Shock turned into confusion. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Wizard-Theif grinned. "I'm alive again. Baraka has a lot of influence in the land of the dead. Then again, I wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for a certain **someone**."

Bakura could still feel tears on his face even as his anger spiked. He almost felt his eyes flash blue. "Sure! Blame it on me! Next time I'll let you die! Just like how you left me back in the tomb!"

Wizard-Theif glared at him. "Hang on, that wasn't by choice!"

"Do you think I had a choice when Zorc held you hostage!?"

"Of course you did! If you haven't shown up, I would have escaped within five minutes."

Bakura growled. "So this is all my fault! Just because I didn't want you to die!"

Wizard-Theif shook her head in disbelief. "Bakura, you know perfectly well Zorc wouldn't have killed me! I had his partner merged with me, you baka! If I died so would she and his plan would have failed! Nice job beating him though."

5000 years of pain burst from Bakura as he glared at her. "Fine! You made your point! Is that why you wanted to see me!? To rub salt in the wound!?" He gestured to his heart for emphasis. "Is that it!?"

Wizard-Theif looked at him, surprised and was unable to say anything.

"Do you know the Hell I've gone through Masika!?" Bakura continued. He knew that he was being childish, but the shock mixed with his history of pain forced him to continue. "It has been worse than Hell! Every second! Every Seth-damn second I was reminded of how I screwed up! Do you think that I don't regret it!? Do you really think I'm that uncaring? That I'm some sort of monster?! We both know my life has always been Hell because of how I looked, but I thought that you actually saw me as a person and not just some pathetic mouse or a cunning snake!"

Wizard-Theif glared at him again. "That's not true! I always saw you as a person because you saw me as one! And stop trying to make me sound like the villain! You aren't the only one with issues! Remember when Agape 'died'. Do you remember why that happened?! Because of me! Now picture that! Knowing that you are a danger to everyone around you and not being able to do anything about that!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Who needs to picture!? I know! I was possessed by Zorc, remember!?"

"Then remember back in my world! Who the hell had the fate of her world thrown on top of her shoulders by the very man who hated one of my closest friends!? Who Bakura!? You thought that I wasn't telling you because I didn't want to? When you found out that I was sworn to secrecy, you didn't really think about it, did you? Do you think I enjoyed that?! Damn it, I wanted to tell you but I couldn't! I couldn't, Bakura!"

"You could have Masika. We both know that if you wanted to tell me so badly that you would have." Bakura said icily, his tears now dry.

Wizard-Theif's face was red from anger. "If I remember correctly, you walked out of the camp before I could!"

"But I came back! I didn't leave you to die like you did!"

"You didn't lose your memory! We both know that after that thing possessed me, I forgot everything! So don't try to pin that on me!"

"I might as well! You weren't able to get control back were you!?"

Tears appeared in Wizard-Theif's eyes, but Bakura didn't notice them through her glare. "You think I wasn't trying!? Bakura, I tried as hard as I could! I gave it my all and more! So don't say I didn't try!"

He crossed his arms and looked away from her. "I'm not saying you didn't try! I'm just saying that-"

Wizard-Theif cut him off and yelled, "That I don't regret it!? Bakura! I regret it every second I see you! It taunts me Bakura! It honestly taunts me! The thought of what could have happened if I had managed to get control always comes to my mind whenever I see you! Why do you think I avoid you so much!? Because every time I see you it hurts! Seth-damn it, Bakura! It hurts! And I want nothing more than to start a fight with you because you are the cause! You cause me to remember!"

Bakura was silent for a moment as he tried to process what Wizard-Theif had just told him. "Why does the idea taunt you?" he asked quietly as he looked at her. "We've never been any thing but friends, so why does the idea taunt you? Nothing would have changed for us."

Wizard-Theif bit her lip and seemed to be debating with herself. "I know now why the idea taunted me. It taunts me because I wonder what could have happened," she said slowly and quietly.

Bakura glared. "You've already said that."

She took a deep breath. "It taunts me because I don't like you as a brother or a guardian." She seemed to be picking her words carefully. "What Spidey always said was true, but I didn't realize it until that night when… when you talked to me while you were drunk."

At once Bakura started worrying, wondering what he had said.

She looked at the floor and spoke quietly. "You were different and it just felt wrong when you talked to me but it also felt right. I realized that it felt right because it was you, but it felt wrong because you were under the effects of alcohol which changed you a bit. It made you more truthful but not as alive as you usually are. And the moment you… you kissed me I realized that the others were right. I… I love you…" When Bakura didn't say anything, Wizard-Theif suddenly turned cold again and looked up. She gave him a glare full of pain and ice while saying, "So are you happy now Bakura? You now know the reason why I fight with you, why I avoid you. You know everything."

Bakura was silent and staring. Part of him worried about what she said and the other part was trying to figure out what to say.

Wizard-Theif glared at him as she started to walk away. "If you aren't going to say anything, I'm leaving."

Before he could fully think about what he was doing, Bakura grabbed her wrist. When she turned to face him, he kissed her. It was only a tad longer that their first one but when they pulled apart, Wizard-Theif remain in Bakura's embrace. Quietly Bakura whispered, "That makes two."

"It's about time!" yelled someone who sounded a lot like Spidey from the door way. "I thought that plan was never going to work."

Both adults looked over to the door to see Agape, Atemu, Bakari, Kaiba, Spidey, Malik, Mossnose, Ryou and Yugi standing there. To their horror, Mossnose had a camcorder.

"Look! They're blushing," Bakari said with a laugh.

Bakura let go of Wizard-Theif and said, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "We're making sure that Elena's idiotic plan works."

"Plan?" Wizard-Theif repeated as she turned to glare at Spidey.

Spidey grinned and hid behind her husband. "You can explain Mossnose."

Mossnose just shook her head. "Our original plan was to have you both join the play and hook up at the end of it but when you both quit, we had to use our back up plan that Agape came up with."

Spidey grinned. "The back up plan was to curse you and Bakura and transform to animals. Unfortunately Agape hadn't used magic in a while, and Bakura's curse got a little messed up so scales started appearing on his arms. Anyways, since you needed a new punishment we sent you to Paris, and Atemu volunteered to get into a yami no game with Bakura so that he would be forced to go to France as well. Then, Bakari did a spell to the weather to make it so that the only way out of Paris was to fly to London. And Kaiba owns the hotel you were at, so he had the manager put you and Bakura in the same room."

"We hoped that the curse would help you two work together for once and help you two realize your feelings," Agape added.

"So why didn't you guys remove the curse when you found out about Zorc, unless that was part of your plan too," Bakura said.

Malik shook his head. "Zorc wasn't part of the plan so we just had to work with it. We would have removed the curse but we couldn't."

"The only way to break this curse was for Wizard-Theif to realize her feelings. Once she had, it would take about one day to a week for the transformations to stop," Ryou explained.

"So you signed us up for a play to hook us up. When that failed, you cursed us and let us live out The Ra-damned Swan Princess?" Wizard-Theif demanded to know.

Spidey smiled. "Actually, we had you live out The Ra-damned Bat Prodigium, and just think, when you two have kids you'll be able to show your kids this video of how you two got together."

"You mean you were video taping the whole time!?" Wizard-Theif and Bakura yelled.

Mossnose grinned. "And Seto has offered to make a movie out of it."

"I never offered," Kaiba muttered as he looked towards one of the walls of the gym. His annoyed face turned into a face of pain when Mossnose stepped on his foot.

Malik walked over to Bakura and said, "I always knew she was your type."

"So when's the wedding?" Atemu asked as he joined Malik.

Bakura's shoulders shook from trying to contain his urge to murder. He stared at the ground for a moment before he suddenly looked up. He had stopped shaking but had an insane grin on his face. He cracked his knuckles. "Right after the funeral.

Both men got the message and started to back away.

"I'll give you a five second head start," Bakura told them.

Atemu turned to Malik. "Is your car still running?"

Malik nodded.

"Retreat to the car!" Atemu shouted as he and Malik ran for the door.

"Five seconds is up," Bakura shouted as he chased after them.

Mossnose looked at Kaiba who sighed. "I'll go make sure that they don't send anyone to the Shadow Realm," he said as he disappeared through the door too.

Ryou grinned and started to follow Kaiba. "Come on Bakari."

The eldest Prodigium nodded and quickly followed.

Once the men had left, Spidey slowly said, "So, are you mad?"

Wizard-Theif gave the girl a confused look.

"About the fight, and the punishment, and stuff," Agape explained.

Wizard-Theif shook her head. "I was going to explode from all that rage eventually. I'm just glad it was all part of some plan because I didn't have it scheduled until next year at Kaiba's birthday."

"So you aren't mad?" Mossnose asked.

The Prodigium shook her head again. "Nah, and I'm sorry about the mutt comment."

Mossnose patted her friend on the back. "All's fair in love and matchmaking. But don't expect me to let it go so easily next time."

Wizard-Theif nodded. "That's the Mossnose I love to annoy."

The ladies were distracted from their bonding by the sounds of the boys starting a shadow game. They watched the guys fight for a bit before Spidey commented, "I pity the girl who is stuck with that idiot," as Bakura got hit over the head with a duel disk by Kaiba.

Without even thinking, Wizard-Theif said, "He may be an idiot, but he's my idiot." She blinked for a moment before saying, "I just said that aloud, didn't I?"

Mossnose grinned. "Yup"

She put her hand to her forehead. "Damn."

"So where are you planning on rooming?" Agape asked as she watched Bakari try to calm things down only to make it worse when he angered the nameless pharaoh, tomb keeper, reincarnation of the high priest, and tomb robber.

Wizard-Theif thought for a moment and then shrugged. "Dunno. I don't think I could stand living with the guys though. Bakari will never let me hear the end of it. He would probably think Bakura and I are… you know…"

Mossnose put an arm around her friend. "We have an extra room back at our apartment. Does that suit you?"

The Prodigium smiled. "As long as you guys don't make me get up early."

Agape and Mossnose nodded. "Deal."

For a moment, the girls watched through the windows as Ryou tried to make peace between the Egyptians and the Prodigium. All was quiet until Agape said, "So when is the wedding?"

"As soon as he proposes," Mossnose and Spidey said with huge grins on their faces.

Wizard-Theif also grinned and added, "Which probably won't be for another 5000 years so don't get your hopes up. And do me a favour, don't come up with any sort of plans to try to make him propose faster. Let him do it when he's ready."

Spidey batted her eyelashes innocently. "Would we ever do something like that?"

Wizard-Theif laughed. "Yes."

All the ladies started laughing and raced outside to join in the snowball fight that the guys had started. As Wizard-Theif got hit with a snowball, she couldn't help but feel happy that her friends had created a brilliant story for her. "_But next time,_" she thought as she readied to throw a snowball at her troublesome brother, "_I hope they pick a less annoying punishment._"

Line++++

**A/N: Annoying Swan Princess. It's so hard to follow the plot because the witch wasn't possessing Odette, there was only one villain, Odette and Derek were already in love, and there were no Yami no Games. Oh well. At least this story is done and surprisingly I'm very happy with it. I hope you all enjoyed it. And for the last time, let us thank Lights Aura858, the wonder beta reader who put up with me for so long. And happy birthday Spidey. I hope this makes up for the sucky present I got you and everything else. And thank you to you wonderful readers and reviewers for reading this far. See you next time.**

**-WT AKA D101**

**P.S Yeah, I still can't write good happy endings but be happy I didn't kill them all off. See ya!**

**-WT**


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